A Croatian animal rights group is planning to file charges on a local footballer who killed a chicken by kicking it to death during a match.
It happened when a brood of chickens ran onto the pitch while the game was going on during a game.
Ivan Gazdek was representing the home team NK Jelengrad and he chased the chickens. He kicked one and threw it over the fence. Needless to say, it did not survive.
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The 23-year-old was sent off right way for not behaving like a sportsperson.
The NGO Animal Friends called it a “shameful act and cowardly behaviour of the player against an innocent animal who died with crushed bones and in pain”.
The charges filed will be for the “criminal act of animal killing or torture”.
Should the charges stick and he be found guilty, he could spend a year behind bars.
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Gazdek however claims to be a lover of animals and told local media that what he did was not intentional.
“I ran towards the chickens to chase them away, swung my foot and accidentally killed one,” he said.
“Chickens are constantly entering the pitch interrupting the match. The pitch is full of faeces, these are unhygienic conditions,” he added while speaking to the 24sata paper.
It does sound a tad funny but it is not as simple as it sounds. One can also understand why. After all animal cruelty is not something that can be taken lightly. Yes, people do eat chickens, but killing them for no reason at all is a bit over the top. It shall be interesting to see if Gazdek is let off or actually pays the penalty.
AFP
Now had the chicken accidentally been hit by the ball and died, it would have been a different matter and nobody would have held him accountable. But to claim that you kicked the chicken by accident seems pushing it a little. After all he was running after the birds to chase them off. Moral of the story is to keep one’s cool in these situations.
Last but not the least, today we live in a world of technology. News travels fast and this could become an outrage all over the world. So the aim is to keep it in check. Now perhaps Gazdek does not deserve time in jail but he needs to be held responsible to some degree. Or else the next time a player does something like this he may expect to get away. So what will happen? Let’s wait and watch.