Nobel Peace Prize Goes To The Dog (aka The Mascot Of WFP)

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Foxtrot and Gemma Snowdon of the U.N.’s World Food Programme, who rescued the lost 4-week-old puppy. Foxtrot’s reaction to the Nobel Peace Prize: «Woweee.»

Jason Beaubien/NPR

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Jason Beaubien/NPR

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Nobel Peace Prize Is Awarded To World Food Programme

He was all over Insta today expressing his excitement about snagging a Nobel. «Woweee,» he said capturing the magnitude of the award with a brevity that is rare among winners in the science categories. His reaction was also more succinct than the head of the WFP, David Beasley, who said, «Holy mackerel. It’s the first time in my life I’ve been without words.»

The WFP is one of the largest aid organization in the world. It does a lot of serious stuff. Much of its work gets overlooked by many humans but not by Foxtrot or Berit Reiss-Andersen, the Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

«With this year’s award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to turn the eyes of the world towards the millions of people who suffer from or face the threat of hunger,» said Reiss-Andersen from Stockholm. «The World Food Program plays a key role in multilateral cooperation on making food security an instrument of peace and has made a strong contribution toward mobilizing U.N. member states to combat the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.»

Foxtrot put it more simply: «Without a doubt … hunger is a cause and effect of conflict.»

The World Food Programme is known for dropping bags of grain out of planes in the midst of famines and airlifting tons of rice in to villages destroyed by typhoons. But the work of the organization goes far beyond food. In Foxtrot’s backyard in Bangladesh, the organization literally moved mountains, flattening hillsides to make space for shelters for Rohingya refugees. Day in and day out the WFP supports long-term nutrition programs including subsidizing local farmers and markets.

«Thank you so much for all your support,» Foxtrot howled today on his social media feed, «and for joining me and my colleagues in doing everything we can to keep food on families’ tables as we work toward a more peaceful and inclusive world.»

Here’s a profile of Foxtrot and his work in the Cox’s Bazar office of the World Food Programme that we published in April of 2019.

• Nobel Peace Price
• World Food Programme