Jason Behnken/Associated Press
Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches has denied allegations that he abandoned his dog.
"Recently, a few animal rights individuals in Tampa began telling a story about us abandoning a Cane Corso on a road in Tampa that ended up in an animal shelter. First of all, the story is completely false," he and his wife Tyrielle said in a statement, via Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk. "We would never abandon a dog."
As Nunez-Roches explained, he and Tyrielle gave away Jitterbug, an Italian Mastiff, to another family in preparation for the couple's first child.