Michael Vick Released

Link: http://www.charter.net/news/read.php?id=15553766&ps=973&cat=&cps=0&lang=en&page=1

After reading this article I was aggravated by its portrayal of Michael Vick, the former NFL star who served a sentence in jail and is now on probation for dogfighting charges. If you were basically unawares of the case, reading this article you would basically think the whole thing was overblown and Vick was pretty much just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Most of the quotes are sympathetic towards Vick, the only critical ones falling at the end of the article, which let's face it, most readers won't get to.
To me the article is very pro-Vick, including quotes such as "I think that from a legal standpoint and financially and personally, he has [paid his debt to society]," and "'There's the expression 'you are what you eat.' To some extent, you are who you hang with too, and that does have an effect on lives for all of us'" These quotes make it seem like Vick was there by accident but he wasn't. It was his dogfighting operation, or "kennels", and he was very largely invested in the fights, and in more ways than just financing them.

What this article also left out was that it wasn't only dogfighting that went on at the Vick operation, though that is certainly horrible enough. The "Vick dogs" were often forced to fight to the death, and dogs that did not look promising for fighting were killed by hanging, drowning, electrocution, shooting and "slamming at least one dog's body to the ground." (CNN.com and The United States Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). Vick himself participated actively in at least eight of these deaths according to investigation and a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report revealed that Viuck "enjoyed placing family pets in the ring with fighting pit bulls and that he laughed as dogs ripped each other apart." Vick's operation also included bait dogs, weak animals used in fights to build up the confidence of stronger dogs.

One quote in the article particularly angered me. A representative from the NFL Players Association was quoted as saying they supported Vick and his family "as he works to rebuild his life." Talk about missing the point. Vick's the one that ruined his life by being violent and cruel. His actions were desipicable.

I've seen the Vick's former fighting dogs on various programs on TV. Organizations such as "Dog Town" have taken on many of the dogs to work to rehabilitate them. These dogs are scarred beyond belief, missing teeth, have poorly healed broken bones, and countless mental issues stemming from their time in the fighting ring. When they came they were scared and trusted no one. Miraculously, with the help of kind-hearted people these dogs are healing, but there are some scars that can never be healed from their past. People who say Vick has "paid his debt to society" really should take a look at what he did to those dogs and think again. Vick has a very, very long way to go before he even begins to repent for his crime, and truly, I believe he can never fully atone for his sins. You don't do that to an innocent animal and just say "I'm sorry" and then hand over a bunch of money. It's not enough, and I don't think anything ever ever can be enough.