Some of the tennis balls used during Wimbledon had a second life far from the courts: they were turned into small shelters for field mice in the United Kingdom.
In 2001, the All England Lawn Tennis Club, the tournament’s organizer, donated some of the balls used during the competition to The Wildlife Trust, an organization dedicated to nature conservation. The balls were fitted with a small hole and placed on posts, creating elevated spaces where mice could build their nests and stay safe from some of their predators, such as birds of prey and weasels.
The initiative made it possible to reuse some of the balls used during the tournament and, at the same time, help protect these small rodents, whose habitat had been affected by agricultural activity.