Ramsey - What fuelled my desire to help

When Aaron Ramsey learned about animal conservation by watching nature documentaries as a young boy, he knew he wanted to help as much as possible when he grew up.

Now, from hosting fundraising golf days to raising awareness on social media, the Wales midfielder has helped a number of charitable campaigns, but it was not until he saw the endangered species first hand that he realised how much of a difference he could make.

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“I saw these animals in the wild holiday I had a few years ago now,” he told Arsenal Player. “It was amazing to see them. I went to Kenya to the Masai Mara [Game Reserve] to see these animals in the wild and it was just amazing.

“To see so many different animals all getting along was just an amazing experience. Hopefully I can do it again one day. It’s definitely strengthened my beliefs and me wanting to help out as much as I can.

“I’ve always been fascinated by animals and I was brought up watching documentaries and David Attenborough. I just had a feeling where I wanted to try and help these animals as well, and I try to do my bit - especially with the endangered animals out there. It’s only one person but I’m trying to do my bit to keep these animals here as long as possible.

“I’ve been working on preventing poaching, which has been the biggest challenge so far. It’s wiping out a lot of rhinos and elephants. A lot of rhinos are really endangered at the moment, so that’s been the biggest thing, trying to stop that.

“It’s very difficult but there have been some improvements in the last year which I’m proud of and the WWF are proud of too. Hopefully we continue doing that. I’m working with the rangers over there as well to try to stop these animals going extinct.”

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