Bagheera aka Baggy is the first dog in the UK to be a part of the struggle against environmental pollution, especially air pollution.
The Labrador wears a pollution monitor in her collar to collect the readings close to the ground.
It is due to the readings taken by her that researchers have discovered that the air pollution problem is the most severe near to the ground, putting babies and toddlers at higher risk of respiratory troubles.
Watch Bagheera at work in the video below.
[rumble video_id=v67fe1 domain_id=u7nb2]
Video credit: Rumble
Conventional air pollution monitors are installed higher up on lamp posts and electricity poles. The idea of putting an air monitor on Baggy’s collar came from her 13-year-old owner Tom Hunt and his dad Matt.
Baggy, who is one-year-old now, has been taking the air pollution readings since she was a pup.
Tom soon realized that air pollution is around 60% more close to the ground as compared to the typical readings provided by air monitoring agencies.
Generally, air pollution monitors, same as the one Baggy wears, are installed as high as 2.7 meters above the ground level whereas Baggy is carrying one at just 0.75 meters, roughly the same height as a toddler in a tram.
Tom, who’s been with Baggy when she was just five weeks old, said: “I am really proud of Baggy, I think our research is really important.
“People need to recognize that it is us young people and kids who are suffering the most from air pollution, and something needs to be done about it urgently.”
Tom has shared the shocking data from the air pollution monitor Baggy wears to the government as well as the Buckingham Shire County Council.
Matt Hunt, Tom’s dad, said: “The whole purpose of this is that Tom really does want to do some good and stop young kids from getting asthma.
“The national data is skewed. The pollution monitors are ordinarily hung upside down from lampposts, a lot higher up, to avoid vandalism.
“But this gives a completely different, flawed result.
“We have about 40 to 45 hours of data now, which has shown that pollution levels are about two-thirds higher closer to the ground.”
Matt, who is the owner of sustainable energy firm Bio Global Industries, revealed that his son was environmentally conscious since he was a child.
“He became aware of environmental studies at a very early age, about seven or eight years old,” Matt said.
“He built up a passion for it, and he became very interested in gadgets, so he started to do some research to see if he could monitor pollution levels for himself.
“About 14 months ago, he got this new piece of tech which is like a test tube.
“One Sunday afternoon, we went out to do some monitoring, and I said, why don’t we take Baggy with us? We put a pollution monitor around her collar, and let her monitor the pollution levels lower down.
“It just happened completely by chance.”
Replaced!