Bird shot

As in other sports, football players risk getting injured on the field. In an amateur match at a stadium in Istanbul, Turkey last week, however, it was not a player who got injured.

The goalkeeper of the Istanbul Yurdum Spor’s football club made a clearance kick and the ball hit a low-flying seagull, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The bird struck the ground and Istanbul Yurdum Spor’s captain, Gani Catan, raced over and started performing rudimentary cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, pumping its ribcage, according to footage sent to AFP by team manager Fatih Buyuk. The heart massage worked as the seagull started breathing.

Catan carried the bird off the pitch to medical staff, who took care of it.

The Istanbul Yurdum Spor lost to the Mevlanakapi Guzelhisar but the heroic rescue of the bird eased the team’s failure to reach the finals.

Helping save a life was more important than the championship, according to the team.

Meanwhile, a California man spent 44 days in jail for cruelty to a protected hawk, US media reported Wednesday, according to AFP.

When Cesar Gustavo Diaz captured the bird at a park in South Whittier, Los Angeles County, he gave it a drink, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) said in a statement on 24 February.

The CDFW took a video of Diaz pouring an alcoholic drink from a green can into the mouth of the juvenile Cooper’s hawk, leading to the filing of misdemeanor animal cruelty and capturing or confining wildlife charges, AFP reports.

Aside from the jail sentence, Diaz was ordered by the court to pay a $220 fine, perform community labor and attend an animal cruelty counseling program, according to AFP.