NBA - Rabies jab for bat-catching star
Eurosport - Thu, 05 Nov 12:11:00 2009
San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili was forced to have a rabies jab after he swatted a bat during an NBA game with the Sacramento Kings.
The flying mammal, thought to have been smuggled in by a fan for the Halloween clash, interrupted proceedings at the AT&T Center until Ginobili brought it down with a flick of his left hand.
The Argentine player then scooped it up and handed it to a courtside official, who took the stricken animal away.
The 32-year-old was put on a precautionary course of vaccinations because the intruder was not tested for rabies before it disappeared.
Ginobili claimed the bat was merely stunned, although there were conflicting reports over its actual fate.
"We asked to see if it was dead," said Ginobili. "They told me it flew away."
He added: "Kids, don't do this at home. Don't handle bats. Don't swat them. Don't do anything. Or raccoons."
But his actions were enough to incur the wrath of animal rights activists PETA, who blogged on their website: "To bludgeon a four-ounce animal to death, it takes either a small man or a totally unthinking one - with no respect or consideration for lives humbler than his own.
"This is a time when athletes in particular need to be on their best behaviour around any animal and show that they have brains and a heart, not just reactionary brawn.
"Bats always try to avoid contact with humans, and there are plenty of easy ways to keep bats out of a basketball arena (or your home). We hope that the next time someone's life is on the line, Manu Ginobili will take just a few seconds to think before he acts."
The incident occurred mid-way through the first quarter of the game, which the Spurs won 113-94, Ginobili netting 13 points.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said: "Manu never ceases to amaze me and he just did it again.
"The legend grows. It's incredible on Halloween night. You would call someone a liar if they told you that story."
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Comment 76 - 95 of 95
no that was blue peta you t055er
is this the same PETA that complained when Barrack Obama swatted a fly, they are such a joke
HMMM.....WELL DONE PETA, FOR PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF THE DEFENCELESS.......THE WORLD NEEDS YOU TO PROTECT THESE ANIMALS FROM THE LIKES OF THE SCUM ON HERE.........
As a member of PETA (People Eat Tasty Animals) I reckon that bat would have went down well, southern fried, like a chicken wing. But, on a lighter note, its just a bat! We, as a race, cull millions of animals to sustain one of OUR basic human needs, the need to eat. Big deal if some guy somewhere swats a flying rodent from the sky, this is not news, this is not important in the grand scale of our world. If PETA (the real ones) want to make a difference, they should go and dig wells in Africa or some other third worldly country to help the HUMAN race and spend less time worrying about the lesser inhabitants of our world.
why dont these people go on about the chilldren in the world dying every minute of every day just for the sake of not having clean water.or dont they have any rights.
rayson80 AND THE REST OF YOU N0N5E5...............IF YOU DONT THINK ANIMALS HAVE RIGHTS, I CAN ONLY GUESS WHAT YOU GET UP TO WITH YOUR KIDS OR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS KIDS.................THE TORTURING OF ANIMALS AND NON COMPASSION, WITH THE SUBSEQUENT DISMISSIVENESS OF CRUELTY TOWARDS THEM, HAS A PROVEN LINK TO THOSE WHO GO ON TO ABUSE CHILDREN LATER IN LIFE.........PETA PROVE WORLD WIDE CRUELTY, AND THE FACT YOU LOT WANT TO TRASH THEM, ONLY SHOWS THAT YOU BUNCH OF N0N5E5 LIKE NOTHING MORE THAN A GOOD OLD DOTESY-DOE WITH YOUR KIDS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS................
First of all, it's somebody's fault to smuggle a creature and interrupted Spurs game.
It's a basketball court, not a zoo.
And not everybody knows how to handle animals. Only PETArds do.
Stupid PETA. they just don't have anything to do everyday. Get a life PETA!
phuck PETA!
1. Why are people who care about animals continually getting referred to as jobless? PETA are an organisation - who work in animal welfare - the key word there is work, so we can't all be jobless can we? :-)
2. Why oh why do people keep going on that 'animal-lovers' should worry more about people dying at war than animal cruelty? Worrying about the 2 are not mutually exclusive (the people to whom I refer will no doubt have to get their dictionaries out now). Both are examples of the ugly side of human nature.
3. Thank God for the likes of PETA. Some of the messages posted here highlight why, sadly, their work is so vital.
No @#$% from PETA about the fool who brought it to the game. Just the painting of that guy as a bat battering caveman. Better a swatted bat than it getting back into the crowd and infecting someone's child with who knows what.
"We hope that the next time someone's life is on the line, Manu Ginobili will take just a few seconds to think before he acts."
"someONE's"? its a frickin' bat. It doesnt have a social security number. If we're all equal then Shouldn't these people be knocking on the doors of this thing's natural predators? Seriously PETA. get a life.
PETA are possibly the most irritating organisation ever formed
well all i can say is if you think about it hes playing a professional sport concentration etc something flies at him and he hits out to get it away i do not think there was anything pre meditated about it
other than its a bat and a different size how many of us in the summer if a fly or wasp etc fly past our heads we hit out.
i dont think anyone had the intention to hurt anything..
and on the edge of comparisson
the soldiers that were shot dead this week while disarmed
i think there was every intention in that
I would have probebly done the same. Anyway, he picked it up then asked if it was dead, so he probably cared...not like he stepped on it.
hang on..... humans are animals too and they have rights so if there's a bat flying around possibly with rabies what would you expect to do? leave the animal to infect people too save it's life. or....... incapacitate it to protect everyone?? i'm against animal cruelty but if a bat was coming towards me and someone said be careful it could have rabies then i sure as hell would slap that bat away. F U PETA! you've all gone a bit batty!
See PETA? Bunch of batty boys
PETA--- "Bats avoid contact with Humans!"
Hang on I have seen the Vampire films, and those bats attack humans lol
mustve been a cricket bat,,,,,
PETA.PETA,PETA..WHAT A WHOLE LOADA OF RUBBISH,,ITS VERNOMOUS,,SO ITS GOTTA BE KILLED OR REMOVED OUT OF THE ROOM,,WHATEVER,,SO U LITTLE MINDED PETA PEOPLE,,,GET A LIFE,,PLEASE.
Some real smarmy arse comments from the Brits as usual. If it was a kitten
or a puppy or a small bird that was killed or injured by a knee jerk reaction the whole nation would be outraged. What a bunch of hypocrites!
Bet PETA would have been Screaming if it had been a Three Pointer!!!!
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