Showing posts with label animal cruelty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label animal cruelty. Show all posts

Friday, February 17, 2023

Does Anyone Remember the Michael Vick Victory Dogs?

 Back in 2007, Michael Vick was exposed as an owner of the Bad Newz  Kennels in Virginia.  It was a place of unbelievable horror for the dogs residing in those cages.  Mr. Vick and his crew routinely tortured and killed those dogs when they would not fight with each other.  They provided dogs for illegal dog fighting venues, so if a dog would not become vicious enough, even with torture, they would kill them for sport.

When this cam to light, the Feds raided the kennels and rescued 48 Pitbull dogs from the confines of the kennels.  Mr. Vick was charged with numerous crimes and spent 18 months in prison, which ended his NFL career as a quarterback with the Atlanta Falcons.


The site was purchased in 2011 and turned into the Good News Rehab Center.

This case was the first time that the animals were not summarily destroyed, but rather they were sent to Utah and other rescues to rehabilitate them.  This had never been done before and happened in a large part because of the uproar of normal citizens and the intervention of the Best Friends Animal Rescue in Utah.

It seems that we, as a group, have a very short memory, because Mr. Vick returned to football upon his release and now is into sportscasting.  He claims to be sorry for the events in his past, but mostly it seems, he is sorry he was caught and caused his career to implode.  He has never one time expressed any concern or regret for his actions that caused such harm and injury to those dogs.  

Unfortunately, despite a large outcry by the public, he has also been allowed to own a dog again.  He now owns a Belgian Malinois despite his past crimes against dogs.

Michael Vick's new dog

His response in an interview was as follows:

In 2019, Vick told The Washington Post that his animal rights crimes are merely a thing of the past. Water under the bridge.

“I think people have moved on. I think they’ve moved past it. It’s been 12-plus years since it all happened, so I don’t get any questions about it anymore. People don’t talk about it. They don’t ask me about it. Life is kind of normal. But I still have a responsibility, and that will never change.”

In a follow-up interview, he told the news site in 2021 he regrets it all — mainly because the case affected his chances of getting into the Hall of Fame.

'S--t, it hurt [my chances of] going in the Hall of Fame. It's going to impact everything. But it was all self-inflicted. I was young. I didn't have no guidance. I don't use this as no excuse. I could've said, 'No.' I could've made those right decisions, like, 'This ain't for me.' That's a blemish that I will never be able to erase." (https://www.greenmatters.com/p/michael-vick-dogfighting-ring).

Upon rescue, many of the dogs were able to be adopted because they showed no damage to their ability to bond with people (possible they were new recruits to the kennels).  However many of them were judged too damaged to be adopted and went to live at the Best Friends Sanctuary in Utah for the rest of their lives.  

Once there, they received constant supervision, positive reinforcement, love and affection from staff and even spent the night at various employee's homes to give them a feeling of family.  They lived a very good life while at the Sanctuary and many were able to be deemed fit for adoption, which is what many people were waiting for.

There is a book on Amazon that discusses this event in detail and is a quick read.  I highly recommend it.  Here is the link to pick it up if you are of a mind to. (I am an affiliate, so I might get a few pennies if you buy through my link)

I also recommend you read several of the posts here and here on this blog about the struggles made by the Vick dogs to be rehabilitated.

Here is a link to an article by the Best Friends Sanctuary about the dogs if you would like to see how they did.  They had the best life possible after they were rescued and they proved the resilience and the heart that these dogs possessed.

Unfortunately, all of the Vick Dogs have gone over the Rainbow Bridge and are all now together again.  What bothers me though, is that there are so many people who choose to forget Vick's crimes, choose to minimize his crimes, simply don't know anything about his crimes, or were born after the fact and no one educated them on this issue.

Cruelty to animals is a crime, period.  It is a legal crime, it is a social crime, it is a personal crime, it is an emotional crime.  When will we start teaching our children how to behave with animals so as to prevent such things from every happening again.

Unfortunately, the Vick event did nothing to stop the abuse of animals for fighting rings.  It just makes me sick.

Here is a link to read the legal charges filed against Vick and his crew.



Monday, June 6, 2011

Here's a call to action to stop animal abuse!

A dish made with dog meat in South KoreaA dish made with dog meat in South Korea Ok, I got this email and read it.  After I caught my breath, I decided to repost it here for you.  This is a good cause and the content of this email is indescribable.

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Bulletin from the cause: In Defense of Animals

Go to Cause


For years IDA has been working with South Korean Activists to help dogs & cats being slaughtered for food... Please help TODAY!

In South Korea, dogs are routinely ...

Wrenched from steaming, squalid crates where they’re packed like sardines to sell in the marketplace

Strung up by their necks as other imprisoned dogs watch in terror, then

Ruthlessly beaten as they dangle helplessly, urinating and defecating on themselves in an agonizing spiral of death.

The entire sickening process can take an hour or more. Only then is “man’s best friend” deemed ready for the dinner plate. He’s blowtorched, then butchered for barbecue, the evening’s meal.

And cats? They’re boiled alive in pressure cookers to make an “elixir” (death juice!) called goyangi soju. It’s believed to cure rheumatism and neuralgia.

As many as TWO MILLION cats and dogs are slaughtered for the meat trade every year in South Korea.

Yes, it makes you angry. That’s why your donation to IDA is urgently needed now. Because incredibly – finally – there are glimmers of hope.

Only thanks to your support has IDA been able to campaign in South Korea all these years. Things are beginning to change. To end this practice we still have much work to do ...

At the front lines is one of IDA's partners on the ground in South Korea, an organization called Coexistence for Animal Rights on Earth (CARE). They’ve been remarkably effective:

They received a tip about a dog meat “farm” in the remote Gyeonggi Province. CARE activists visited the facility. What they found was appalling. Dogs were living in ramshackle cages. Some had injuries. All sat in piles of feces.

At the risk of arrest and personal injury, they rescued the dogs and brought them to CARE’s shelter to be treated, cleaned, and loved for the first time.

CARE filed a civil complaint against the facility and the owner agreed to demolish the buildings and not obtain any more dogs – a HUGE win for the dogs of South Korea!

With IDA’s assistance, CARE is gearing up for lawsuits against dog meat shops in Gyeonggi Province.

Grassroots protests against the dog meat trade are now held every Sunday in South Korea. CARE learned of a Goyang City government shelter selling rescued dogs and cats to meat traders. They investigated, gathered evidence and exposed the shelter to the media.

The heartless shelter employees who were trafficking in cruelty? FIRED! The illegal trade of animals in Goyang City shelters? HALTED!

Without IDA's support of CARE that you make possible, these recent victories for South Korea’s dogs and cats couldn’t continue.

Here are just a few things that your donation today will directly help fund ...

$10,000 will help CARE purchase a rescue van that will traverse all of South Korea, and hundreds of additional dogs and cats will be rescued each year. Help IDA support work on a groundbreaking documentary that will expose the truth to South Koreans about the deception behind the “dog-eating culture in South Korea.”

Print thousands of brochures, flyers and posters – to flood key government officials with petitions, phone calls, letters, e-mails and faxes.

In addition to your donation, there’s even more you can do ...

Our fifth annual International Day of Action is set for August 16, 2011.

Events have been held in numerous countries – including South Korea – on five different continents. In the U.S., IDA has had a presence at every single South Korean Embassy and Consulate. Your donation will fund the groundwork for the 2011 International Day of Action, which promises to be the biggest yet.

Thank you for your commitment to end the suffering of our animal friends. Whatever you are able to donate today will be put to immediate and cost-effective use to end the torture and killing of dogs and cats in South Korea – and help animals wherever they are in desperate need.

May the kindness you show today return to you in a hundred wonderful ways.

For the animals,

Elliot M. Katz, DVM
President and Founder
In Defense of Animals

Call to Action

In Defense of Animals

Fundraising Project: In Defense of Animals


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Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Tuesday True Story -- Believe it: The story of a dog named Ripley

Here is a story from the Orlando Sentinel about a dog that was discovered and saved.  Enjoy!


Believe it or not, this picture is of a dog.


The poodle was found in a ditch in Houma, La., with hair so matted that he couldn’t walk. He was taken in by My Heart’s Desire, a local animal-rescue group, given a shave and a name — Ripley.
“You would have never believed there was a dog under there,” says Tracey Lapeyrouse, co-founder of the shelter. “He looked like the elephant man. All you could see was his snout.”
Enter Orlando-based Ripley’s Entertainment Inc., which is making a $400 donation to the shelter and will give a gift card to Ripley’s future family for pet-related expenses.
“Ripley the dog is what Ripley’s Believe It or Not! is all about,” says Tim O’Brien, vice president  of communications. “It’s unbelievable that a dog could even be in this condition, let alone survive and go on to potentially become a great pet for someone.”
Ripley, after
The company’s connection with animals goes back as far as founder Robert Ripley, who once had a one-eyed dog named Cyclops. So it’s not hard to imagine that Ripley the dog’s story is being considered for an upcoming Believe It or Not book.


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Thursday, April 29, 2010

Supreme Court voids ban on cruel videos

This is an article I found on Dogtime.com.  When I read this article I was sick.  How can it be okay to make and sell dog fighting videos, yet dog fighting itself is illegal?  If that holds water, then how can all the perverts get arrested for viewing kiddie porn videos on their own computers?  Where exactly is the difference?  In both cases, the innocent are damaged and others are profiting from said damage.  Please click the link to go read the comments at the original site.  This just makes no sense at all.
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Dogtime editor rules on the Court's latest decision.



We live in a country in which our basic liberty is protected by law. And thanks to today's Supreme Court ruling, we can add one more freedom to the list that includes speech, religion, and assembly: We can legally profit from videos depicting people in spiked heels stomping on live animals until their bodies are pulverized. Crushed to death.
Thank you, Supreme Court justices (save Justice Alito), for upholding my right to sell footage showing the explicit maiming, torture, and killing of companion animals. I can now legally make money on dog fighting - or any other form of cruelty I happen to fancy.
"The First Amendment itself reflects a judgment by the American people that the benefits of its restrictions on the government outweigh its costs," said Chief Justice John Roberts.
According to cnn.com , "Roberts concluded Congress had not sufficiently shown 'depictions' of dog fighting enough to justify a special category of exclusion from free speech protection."
Just how many dogs should have to endure prolonged and intentional agony before the restrictions outweigh the costs? When does the scale tip away from depraved sadists in favor of a gentle and innocent animal?
In 1982, the Supreme Court ruled that the trafficking of child pornography does not fall under the protection of free speech. So the precedent is there. But the willingness of the Court to protect our dogs and cats is second to our right to produce images of bullfighting and deer hunting.
Roberts did concede one point. According to CNN, he "suggested a law specifically banning crush videos might be valid, since it was narrowly tailored to a specific type of commercial enterprise."
Might be valid? Your compassion is so overwhelming, Chief Justice Roberts, that I think I must now excuse myself to go be sick.
I love my American Pit Bull Terrier, but today, I certainly don't love being an American.
- Leslie Smith
The editor with her dog.
The editor with her dog.

Here is the link to the original article and all the comments.  Please visit the site.
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