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Mario Balotelli believed to have made large donation to fire devastated dogs' home

Mario Balotelli believed to have made large donation to fire devastated dogs' home

A five-figure sum has been anonymously donated to the Manchester Dogs' Home, which was destroyed by a fire that killed 60 dogs last week, and Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli is believed to be the mysterious benefactor.

Why (always) Mario? There seem to be two reasons. First, Balotelli used to be a volunteer dog walker for the home while his own dog was back home in Italy during his time playing for Manchester City. But the organization has surely had many volunteers and benefactors over the years and a number of them must be of considerable means. So, again, why is Balotelli being publicly named as the likely donor? Because Mario Balotelli is assumed to be the person behind just about everything. He's the Bill Murray of Europe. The subject of a never ending stream of unusual and mostly delightful tales — enough of which are true to make people automatically believe that they are all true.

Previous reports have had Balotelli paying for everyone's fuel at a gas station, giving a thousand pounds to a homeless man outside a casino, and putting a thousand pounds into a church collection plate on Christmas Eve. Balotelli later debunked all of those stories, but he also supposedly gives almost half his salary to charity. So maybe the Manchester Dogs' Home received a sizable chunk of one of his first checks from Liverpool.

From the Manchester Evening News:

Jane Smith, a spokeswoman for the dogs’ home, said: “Mario owns a dog but it was in quarantine in Italy so he used to come and walk all the dogs at the dogs’ home.

“We can’t yet confirm whether he made a donation but he is known as a big dog lover so it would make sense.”

A representative of the £60,000-a-week star was unable to confirm whether the star had made the donation.

Whether Balotelli is the anonymous donor or not is no longer important. With his name now attached to the effort to raise money for the dogs' home, the level of awareness jumps exponentially and many more donations will probably be made as a result. This is a omniponent power of his omnipotent reputation.

Mario Balotelli is all around us.

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Brooks Peck

is the editor of Dirty Tackle on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him or follow on Twitter!