Owl-kicker handed community service at zoo
Reuters - Thursday 28 April 2011, 15:37
BOGOTA - Panama international Luis
Moreno has been heavily fined and ordered to do community work
at a zoo after infamously kicking an owl during a Colombian
championship match, local media said on Thursday.
It was the latest unhappy twist for Moreno who has already
completed a two-match ban imposed by the league for the incident
in February and is now serving a seven-match ban for kicking a
grounded player in another game.
Pereira defender Moreno kicked the owl, regarded as a mascot
by the home crowd, after it had strayed on to the pitch and been
hit by the ball during his team's 2-1 defeat by Atletico Junior
in the Caribbean city of Barranquilla.
The city's Office for the Environment (DAMAB) slapped a
26.78 million Colombian peso ($15,110) fine, equivalent to 50
times Colombia's minimum wage, on Moreno on Wednesday.
Moreno will also have to meet costs of 600,000 pesos for
treatment of the owl, which died two days after the kicking
incident, make a public apology to the city and do community
work at the local zoo, DAMAB director Humberto Mendoza told the
daily El Tiempo.