Over the weekend, Chilean club team Colo Colo had some furry guests with them as they took the field for a Primera División match against Deportes Antofagasta: puppies. Lots of puppies.
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While a lot of teams do charity work with shelters in their respective cities, few actually give the pups their moment in the metaphorical sun quite like Colo Colo did. As part of a partnership with the Friends of Animals Union in Santiago, the Santiago side players led out puppies that live in a local animal shelter, in hopes of getting the little ones adopted. Colo Colo is the first club side in Chile to officially partner with the animal rights NGO, as negotiated by club president Aníbal Mosa.
The #Adopta partnership will also see Colo Colo players participate in other activities with shelters in the city, and the club is also donating an unspecified amount of money towards shelters in Santiago.
The crowd at the Estadio Monumental went wild for the dogs, as seen in the video above, while the puppies seemed to enjoy their 15 minutes of fame. Unfortunately for the fans in attendance, the puppy parade to start the match was the most interesting thing to happen on the day, as Colo Colo and Antofagasta drew in the opening match of the new Chilean domestic season by a score of 0-0.
Colo Colo isn’t the first globally-known sports team to help adopt puppies; the US Olympic team at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics made headlines that year after they started adoption stray dogs from the Russian city.