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Bucs' Rakeem Nunez-Roches Denies Abandoning Dog After Receiving Threats

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.