Hero Cat to Throw 1st Pitch at Minor League Baseball Game

[Kelseecat65]

Hope the cat does not have a freaking panic attack!


Already a major hit online, Tara the tabby is heading to the minor leagues.

The California cat that raced out of nowhere and went berserk on a neighborhood dog attacking her 4-year-old owner has been tapped to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Bakersfield Blaze baseball game next Tuesday.

A team spokesman said they originally invited bite victim Jeremy Triantafilo, the toddler saved by Tara, to throw the first ball, but the announcement and media coverage led fans to believe the famous feline was somehow handling the honors herself.
"We now have four days to figure out a way to teach this cat to pitch. I've got David Blaine on the other line," Philip Guiry, the team's assistant general manager, joked to the Daily News on Friday.

"I'm hoping for a miracle of physics and engineering. It's what the people want, and you've got to give the people what they want," he said.
He said Jeremy will also be throwing a stitched-up ball after doctors had to sew up his leg.
"Stitches get stitches. That's our motto," Guiry told The News. "And I'm downloading all the songs from (the Broadway play) 'Cats,' to play in the background."

The viral surveillance video posted to YouTube on Wednesday shows Jeremy riding his bike outside his Bakersfield house when the dog runs up his driveway and viciously chomps on his leg.
The Labrador/chow mix is seen dragging the boy down the driveway by its jaws when Tara barrels in out of nowhere and rams into the dog at full speed, breaking off the attack. She then chases the stunned dog off the property.

The hair-raising incident happed Tuesday as the boy's mother was standing nearby watering a tree, 23ABC News reported.

"Tara is my hero," Jeremy told the TV station.
"I've never seen a cat do that," said dad Roger Triantafilo, whose YouTube video had more than 17 million views Friday. "Especially ours. It just shows how much she really has a family-oriented mindset."

Local police said the dog would be quarantined and then euthanized.

[CrunchyCripple]

It's going to be hilarious when she gets freaked out and rips off someone's face on live tv.
Hero gone bad.

[Kelseecat65]

Originally Posted by CrunchyCripple

It's going to be hilarious when she gets freaked out and rips off someone's face on live tv.
Hero gone bad.

I know!!! Hopefully they will have her in a harness...I wonder if "mom" or "dad" will be holding her and "throwing" the first ball!

[Shakey]

Why are they killing the dog

[gatagato]

Yesterday the Hero Gato was featured on all the major networks all around the globe, she has become more famous than Obama and Michael Jackson: tonight an italian female reporter who was being trolled by some howling dog said: "Where's the hero cat when you need her?"

[CrunchyCripple]

Originally Posted by Shakey

Why are they killing the dog

Because he attacked a child, unprovoked. He also bit the mother (while trying to get at the child again) and his owner.

[Shakey]

Originally Posted by CrunchyCripple

Because he attacked a child, unprovoked. He also bit the mother (while trying to get at the child again) and his owner.

He was playing.

[CrunchyCripple]

No, he was not. There is a difference between play(even really rough play) and attacking. That dog was attacking.

What is it that makes you think he was playing?

[30564U]

Originally Posted by Shakey

He was playing.

Ah...did you see the video? Not only did the kid get a few stitches, but so did the mom. The dog was running loose and went right for the kid and violently bit his leg a proceeded to shake the kid until the cat attacked him and drove him away. That dog should be shot...and by someone who knows how.

[Sybil]

I'm guessing the owner voluntarily took responsibility and decided to have the dog humanely euthanized.