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to promote civic engagement in the Philadelphia region.Michael Vick says he’s sorry but should we believe him?
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009 at 2:54 pm - by Guest Commentator. Filed under: Community.
This is what a second chance looks like for a female dog who was badly injured in the fighting ring / Photo by Debbie Sanville
By Bill Smith is a co-founder of Main Line Animal Rescue
We care for these animals. Dogs ravaged by dog fights. Animals who have endured the most unspeakable acts of cruelty imaginable. Dogs with severed or missing ears. Dogs suffering from dozens of puncture wounds. Animals set on fire for not performing well. Last winter, a young pit bull was hung from a fence in Philadelphia, her mutilated body frozen to a railing. We try to help those we save, and cry over those we can’t. And we cried again last week when we heard the Eagles had signed Michael Vick.
Many people believe Mr. Vick deserves a second chance. Those of us who work in rescue and work in the City’s shelters and see the victims of dog fighting firsthand are going to be less forgiving. The value of Vick as a speaker to young would-be dog fighters makes sense. No arguments there. But will his “activism” outlast his career with the NFL? It will be interesting to see. Forgive me for being skeptical.
The dog owner set her on fire after she was badly injured in a fighting ring / Photo by Debbie Sanville
I mentioned on Radio Times on Monday (mp3), that the statement regarding Vick that made me angriest belonged to the Governor. Ed Rendell praised Vick for enduring his ordeal with “dignity and grace.” An odd choice of words to describe a man who strangled, electrocuted, drowned, and broke the backs of the dogs in his care over a six year period. The Governor should not have weighed in on the Vick signing. We believe his desire to continue to appear on the Eagles post-game show most likely prevented him from speaking out on behalf of the dogs. We only hope that nothing prevents the Governor from speaking out or enforcing our new dog laws when they take effect on October 9.
Breeding dogs in rabbit hutches in Pennsylvania Dutch Country / Image by MLAR
Thousands of puppy mill dogs should be removed from the wire floors of their stacked cages and will receive exercise and veterinary care for the first time in their lives, if the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement enforces the new laws - and that’s a big if, considering their past performance. Because Governor, these animals have endured their time in prison (without committing any crimes) with “dignity and grace” and now they need their second chance. And we are all hoping that you defend these animals with the same passion you are now using to defend Michael Vick. Again, forgive me for being skeptical.
Bill Smith is a co-founder of Main Line Animal Rescue (MLAR).
August 19th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Some variation of the following is floating around the twitter-verse - if Michael Vick had just tortured humans instead of dogs, then people would be asking us Americans to just forgive him and move forward. Not to say that torturing dogs is ok (in fact, my emotional reaction is to go all Powder on him - you know the scene), but we could use some similar outrage for the members of our government who tore down an international reputation that will take years to rebuild.
Yikes… was that off topic.
I’m done thinking about Michael Vick or Brett Favre or Brad Lidge’s pitching troubles. I’m just gonna watch the games for their entertainment value and vote for any ballot initiatives or candidates which or who will make doing bad things to animals a VERY serious (punishable by very long jail terms) offense.
August 19th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Dan’s reaction is all too familiar- rather than address Vick’s crimes & situation only- he connects them to something totally unrelated (US international reputation?).
Vick committed heinous acts of unspeakable cruelty upon scores of innocent animals. He planned, paid for, participated in, and enjoyed dogfights. When dogs were of no value he exectuted them. Vick was committed to the dogfighting lifestyle of thugs, drugs, and violence.
Vick served his legal sentence in prison. He claims to be a changed man who wants to atone for his crimes. Instead of traveling the country as the spokesman everyone says he should be, he is playing professional football- which is the crux of the problem.
An admitted, convicted violent criminal does not belong in the NFL. The Eagles and Commissioner Goodell have created one of the great travesties of modern sports history: hiring a man who could not get a job anywhere else because of his record. Instead the Eagles and Goodell have placed this sadistic man on a very public pedestal.
This is a sad time for Philadelphia, the decent players in the NFL, and anyone who loves animals. Shame on Goodell, Reid, Lurie, Rendell and all who think Vick is worthy to play professional sports.
August 19th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
If Vick was in another profession he probably would not have a job.
Animal cruelty has been linked to sociopathic/ anti-social behavior and serial killers for decades.
A smart judge would have sentenced him to 10 years of volunteer work with abused dogs.
August 19th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
If he served his sentence, why not let him move on with his life. You don’t have to like the guy. I’m not much into football, but it seems to be the correct principle to follow.
August 20th, 2009 at 12:28 am
He did not even serve his sentence. The worthless jerk got out early to go to drug re-hab and it was of course a nice upscale re-hab. He’s a low life worthless human being!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 20th, 2009 at 9:56 am
I agree 100% with Mary; just because this man plays football we r supposed to accept that he’s sorry for his actions? I think he’s sorry he got caught, and if he didn’t get caught, he’d still be torturing innocent dogs & making $$$ on fighting them. Would we be so willing to forgive & forget if he was not a famous athlete? This IS a “travesty of modern sports history.” GO GIANTS!
August 20th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
i agree with u mrs. brenda all the way he should be put in a ring so the dogs he was fighting could attack him like they were made to do to each other! i will never support the eagles again!
August 20th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
VICK? SORRY? This question needs to be rephrased to “DO YOU THINK VICK IS SORRY…HE GOT CAUGHT? then the answer definitely would be YES!!! Vicks’ only concern is for himself,he will do and say anything to get what HE wants!! GOODNESS it is sooo obvious.
I also agree As Brenda Y mentioned that the media makes too much of a deal about athletes,they treat them as if they are GOLD and lets not OFFEND them but hey it’s OK to offend,harm and abuse animals?
Only a victim can forgive a perpetrator which in this case are those great dogs that died because of Vick and his cronies….so Vick go back to prison where you belong!!
August 20th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Good for you Bill! Main Line Rescue has got this one right.
http://www.saveardmorecoalition.org/node/3510
August 20th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
I think this publication say’s it all in words that cannot be disbuted, they are facts from the case. Also, a mistake is something you do once and learn from it, not the type of horrendous abuse Vick put those poor helpless Dogs through and enjoyed every minute of doing so. He is a very sick excuse for a human being and NEVER should be allowed in a position where Children will look up to a known Dog abuser!
From the article;
Says one:
There are many, many words that come to mind to adequately describe Vick’s reinstatement by the NFL—intolerable, obscene, outrageous, and shameful. But as for the words chosen by the large, national organizations—redemption, a positive impact, mistakes, sincere, thoughtful, gratitude, hope, right—I can only shake my head in disgust.
But the most heart-wrenching description of what Vick did to dogs comes from a Bay Area rescue group which took in some of the dogs abused by Vick and his co-conspirators:
I just can’t get myself away from the swimming pool in Vick’s yard. I first learned about it while riding in the back seat of a federal agent’s car that sweltering Tuesday back in Sept 07. The agent was assigned with escorting us to the various Virginia shelters so we could evaluate “the evidence” otherwise known as 49 pit bulls – now known as cherished family pets: Hector, Uba, Jhumpa, Georgia, Sweet Jasmine and the rest. I’m not sure if sharing insider information with us was kosher, but you know how driving down long country roads can get you talking. I imagine she just needed to get some things off her chest. She said she was having trouble sleeping since the day they exhumed the bodies on the Moonlight Road property. She said that when she watched the investigators uncover the shallow graves, she was compelled to want to climb in and pick up the decomposing dogs and comfort and cradle them. She knew that was crazy talk, and she was grappling with trying to understand such a surprising impulse.
Her candor set the tone for this entire saga. Everyone we worked with was deeply affected by the case. The details that got to me then and stay with me today involve the swimming pool that was used to kill some of the dogs. Jumper cables were clipped onto the ears of underperforming dogs, then, just like with a car, the cables were connected to the terminals of car batteries before lifting and tossing the shamed dogs into the water. Most of Vick’s dogs were small – 40lbs or so – so tossing them in would’ve been fast and easy work for thick athlete arms. We don’t know how many suffered this premeditated murder, but the damage to the pool walls tells a story. It seems that while they were scrambling to escape, they scratched and clawed at the pool liner and bit at the dented aluminum sides like a hungry dog on a tin can.
I wear some pretty thick skin during our work with dogs, but I can’t shake my minds-eye image of a little black dog splashing frantically in bloody water … screaming in pain and terror … brown eyes saucer wide and tiny black white-toed feet clawing at anything, desperate to get a hold. This death did not come quickly. The rescuer in me keeps trying to think of a way to go back in time and somehow stop this torture and pull the little dog to safety. I think I’ll be looking for ways to pull that dog out for the rest of my life.
In contrast to both the HSUS and the ASPCA, the No Kill Advocacy Center told the Commissioner that while,
Football is simply a game … [t]he pain, suffering and killing Michael Vick inflicted on hundreds of dogs was not. Tragically, it was very real. Common decency, and the compassionate values that most Americans now hold, demand that we not allow anyone capable of such depravity – regardless of who they are, what regrets they may strategically and conveniently claim to now have, or the allies in the animal protection field they may have converted to their perverted cause – a place in the American limelight
According to the Special Investigator in charge of the Vick case for the U.S. government, Vick “thought it was funny to watch the dogs… injure or kill the other dogs.” He also writes that Vick and his associates killed dogs in many ways:
By hanging: “by placing a nylon cord over a 2 x 4 that was nailed to two trees located next to the big shed.”
By drowning: “by putting the dogs’ heads in a 5 gallon bucket of water.”
By blunt force trauma: “by slamming [dogs] to the ground several times … breaking the dog’s back or neck.”
By shooting: “by shooting the animal with a .22 caliber handgun.”
By electrocution. According to one of the people Vick paid “to live on the property, take care of the dogs, and arrange dog fights,” “He admitted killing numerous dogs after ‘testing’ and after fights by shooting and electrocuting the dogs and then burying them on the… property.”
August 23rd, 2009 at 4:21 pm
I watched the 60 Minute out takes. In the 12 Minute HSUS Vick contact with at risk youths which happened in ATL, Vick called his dog fighting, ‘his sanctuary. His escape from the Falcons. He flew home every Tuesday on his one day off to attend to be with his friends and be involved in his dog fighting’. How many dogs were executed on Tuesdays over the 6 years?
It is despicable that the owner of the Eagles calls himself and dog lover, and then turns around and hires Vick/Ookie for over a million w/o even meeting him. Donovan McNabb says he supports Vick, but didn’t even watch the 60 Minute interview. The coach never saw Vick in person, just talked to his ‘handlers’ and PR people.
Shame on the NFL, for not banning ALL convicted felons for life. What exactly is their ‘code of conduct’ that allows someone like Vick and the others to continue to be athletes that children will idolize? So many athletes have overcome violent and poverty stricken childhoods, and have never resorted to being criminals. Shouldn’t they be given their chance at playing in the NFL rather than Vick?
September 13th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
When the Eagles signed “that monster” they lost me as a fan. In fact, I have lost all interest in football. Every Eagles item I owned was thrown in the trash . . . and I had many. The Eagles organization has a lot of money to spend on “damage control.” They are convinced they will finally win a super bowl with that piece of human garbage on their team. They sold their souls to the devil in the hopes of much revenue that a successful season brings. Its very sad that too many people don’t really care what he did to the animals. The Eagles organization made sure to reach out to all the local animal welfare organizations in the area before the first home game to keep the picketing down and for no other reason. Vick is not sorry for what he did, he’s sorry he got caught. No normal person could do what he did. His dogs never got a second chance and he doesn’t deserve one either.