Tag: field

No way, Jose: Another reason to hate soccer

It’s unfair to cast aspersions on an entire sport because of the actions of just one player.

Then again, it’s unfair to pick a dog up by the neck and hurl it into the stands.

That’s what Enzo Jose Jimenez  did when a dog wandered onto the field in a minor league match between his Bella Vista team and the San Juan team in the Tucuman province of Argentina.

A referee flashed a red penalty card and the player was expelled from the game.

We’d like to see him expelled from the team, the league, the sport and, at least for a year or two, from free society.

Fox Sports de Argentina broadcast images on Tuesday showing the player using both hands to grab the mid-size black-and-white dog by the neck and throw it toward the bleachers.

The dog struck a chain-link fence, but quickly got up and ran away with no injuries, or at least no apparent ones.

There are no reports of any charges being filed against the player, but it’s being reported that the soccer club terminated Jimenez’s contract yesterday.

Club Sportivo Bella Vista, issued a statement last night calling his actions “incomprehensible” (assuming this translation is correct) and saying he had been kicked off the team.

Ditch Dog of Kansas finds a home


After eight years of living on her own in a field in Kansas, Ditch Dog has come in out of the cold.

Nobody knew where D.D., as she’s called, came from. She didn’t let people near her — not even when one of her legs got looped through her collar, and she limped around on three legs until the collar rotted. Even, then, she kept walking on three legs for another year, apparently having grown used to it.

Ditch Dog did accept the donations of food and water that residents of Buhler, week after week, year after year, provided.

But not until last month did she allow a human to get close, make friends and take her home, according to Hutchinson News reporter Kathy Hanks:

After all these years, the elusive creature …has finally come indoors to the home of Rachelle Cavanaugh, just in time for the cold weather. Cavanaugh believes D.D. was ready … “She didn’t want to live like that anymore,” Cavanaugh said.

The wiry-haired dog, who’s also missing her tail, avoided being picked up for violating Buhler’s leash laws by staying outside town limits, on the county side of the road.

Cavanaugh began trying to get close to D.D. more than a year ago. She began leaving treats with medicine to help the dog with what Cavanaugh suspected was arthritis, and put flea medicine in her food. One night, when Cavanaugh sat by the food dish, D.D. approached and let Cavanaugh touch her.

“She was starving for attention,” Cavanaugh said.

Recently, Cavanaugh was able to get D.D. to jump in her car. She drover her around town, put a leash on her and introduced her to her other three dogs before returning her to her field.

She arranged for a vet to come to the field and give D.D. shots.

And about a month ago, D.D. moved in with Cavanaugh.

“She has some wicked scars,” Cavanaugh said, and she still seems to get anxious at night, at which time she seeks out her pillow.

Cavanaugh left a sign in the field where D.D. once lived, in case people in Buhler start wondering why she’s no longer there. It reads:

“Buhler: Thank you for all the years of care and concern. I have found a home and I am adjusting. God bless you, Ditch Dog.”

(Photo: Lindsey Bauman / Hutchinson News)

Singapore dog gets his “dying wish”

A rescue group in Singapore couldn’t save Ol’ Boy, but they tried to make his final moments happy, fulfilling a wish that he reportedly expressed to rescuers through an animal communicator — to live, however briefly, in a real home.

The homeless street dog was found by members of the organization Save Our Street Dogs, according to the New York Daily News.

According to the video, the dog,  too far gone to be saved, passed along his desire to spend the final days of his life in a real home.

The dog was thought to have spent years living on the streets, surviving on water dripping from air conditioners and scraps of food from shopkeepers. He was covered with hundreds of ticks, and suspected of having cancer. Many of his teeth were chipped or missing.

Members of the rescue organization, after taking him to a veterinarian, where a blood transfusion didn’t seem to help, declined to have him put to sleep and  took him home.

“We stayed by his side, patting him whenever he cried in discomfort,” his  caretakers say in their video. “That was all he wanted.”

One night at 2 a.m., Ol’ Boy sat up to take several sips on water, the video says. But he died two hours later.

The group’s members scattered rose petals on Ol’ Boy’s body and, after having him cremated, scattered his ashes in a local field that overlooked a beach — also in accordance with the message the animal communicator received.

Save Our Street Dogs works to rescue Singapore’s  stray dogs. They hope that the video will bring more attention and sympathy to their  cause.

Hogtied pitbull headed for new home

A pit bull found hogtied and abandoned in a muddy field in California last month has a new home, thanks to the efforts of actress Katherine Heigl and her family’s rescue foundation.

The dog was discovered last month in Bakersfield. The dog’s owner James Worley, 52, has been arrested and faces a possible charge of felony animal cruelty.

The pitbull, who has been named England after the animal control officer who saved him, Kristen England, was placed into a new home on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a petition asking the District Attorney’s office to prosecute the dog’s owner to the fullest extent the law allows has received almost 1,000 signatures.

The petition was started April 26 by Karen Marousek, of the Friends of the Kern County Animal Shelters Foundation, according to the Bakersfield Californian.

As of Wednesday morning, more than 1,000 signatures had been gathered. The petitions will be presented to the prosecutor and judge handling the case.

Worley, 52, was arrested on suspicion of felony animal cruelty on April 26.  An arraignment is scheduled for Friday in Lamont.

The Jason Debus Heigl Foundation was founded by Katherine Heigl and her mother Nancy Heigl in memory of Jason Debus Heigl, Katherine’s brother. It  rescues dogs and works to increase awareness of inhumane treatment to animals.

The Heigls, officials from the group Last Chance For Animals and Kern County Animal Control Director Guy Shaw held a press conference in Los Angeles Tuesday.

(Photo: England, as he was found; courtesy of Kern County Animal Control)

Why we like the minor leagues …

Unlike the Minnesota Twins, and all those other Major League teams that don’t generally allow dogs in the ballpark, the Minor League has a little more laid back attitude.

On top of being more likely to have “dog days,” some minor league teams actually help find dogs homes.

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals showcased this seven-month-old beagle mix, named Mona, as an “Iams Adoptable Pet of the Game.” More importantly, when Mona did what comes natural on the field, everyone took it in stride.

Mona went on to find a “forever” home when she was adopted from the Springdale Animal Shelter. Her appearance also led another family who was interested in Mona — but who stood second in line — to adopt two other dogs.