I hate that this exists. I hate that people do this. Why do people do this?
I hope this guy loses his career and ends up in jail.
“According to the indictment, dogs that didn’t show enough fighting spirit, or that lost matches, were put to death by a variety of methods, including shooting, drowning, hanging and electrocution. Prosecutors allege that on one occasion earlier this year, Vick participated in killing eight dogs.”
Sickening. Just sickening.
And these are the “heroes” kids look up to. Nice.
Last night Drew Carey was on Letterman. He was talking about how much he loves soccer and somehow football came up. At one point during the interview he said, “If Vick plays this year, I will not watch one game.”
I am/was very proud of his declaration and I do hope that others follow. Besides, Soccer is so much more awesome than American football anyway. :]
He has a November 26 trial date, barring any postponements.
The HSUS association sent me an email asking to send letters to Nike calling for them to drop his sponsorship. I did – if anyone else is interested:
https://community.hsus.org/campaign/US_2007_dogfighting_nike/ine6u8erad3wkwx
Two little easter eggs from that piece I linked to:
“Reebok, the maker of the official N.F.L. jersey, said Friday that it would pull Vick’s jersey from shelves, a step the Reebok spokeswoman Denise Kaigler told the A.P. that the company had never taken before.
Donruss, a major trading card company, has removed Vick from all future 2007 releases. One big reason for Donruss’s decision: its owner, Ann Powell, brings her five Labrador Retrievers to the office every day.”
Oh holy crap! Yay!
I need to catch up! I also just heard that one of the accused will be meeting with prosecutors on Monday to discuss a plea deal. That could mean good things for the case, meaning that maybe he will state that Vick is full of shit and totally guilty. Granted, the guy coming forward might get a lesser sentence, but it counts, I suppose. right?
One more thing: You don’t f*ck with America’s pets. ;]
“RICHMOND, Virginia (CNN)—One of the co-defendants in the Michael Vick federal dogfighting case pleaded guilty on Monday and pledged to fully cooperate with prosecutors.
It is widely believed that Taylor’s plea, which had been expected, and his future cooperation could hurt Vick and help the government prove its case against the Atlanta Falcons’ star quarterback.”
Full story here
Some other positive news on the animal welfare front:
For decades, we’ve led the charge to toughen laws against animal fighting. Thanks to our campaigns and the actions of caring people like you, dogfighting is now a felony both federally and in 48 states. During the last six months alone, our ongoing work has led to groundbreaking progress in ending animal fighting in America:
We won a six-year campaign to mandate nationwide felony penalties for animal fighting when Congress passed the federal Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act of 2007.
We successfully concluded our 10-year battle to outlaw cockfighting in all 50 states with the passage of bans in New Mexico and Louisiana.
Most recently, we worked with federal law enforcement to break up a massive dogfighting ring in southern Ohio, which resulted in nine people receiving federal indictments, 38 people charged with state felonies, and the seizure of more than 60 dogs.
Yay! Our nation does have a heart. It bugs me knowing that there are dog fighting rings taking place right here in Brooklyn. I just know that countless animals die because of it. I give a great big round of applause to the men and women who work undercover to break this sort of thing up. They must have a heart of steel to not let it get to them, tho. Bravo, America. Bravo on the animal front. Now, if only we could do something to treat our industrial farm animals with more respect.
Something light… http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/dog-toys/michael-vick-dog-chew-toy-paybacks-a-bitch-287220.php
Kerry has suggested making transmission of dogfighting material/images illegal. Free speech proponents are up in arms. I don’t see the problem, personally, and I’m ALL for free speech. Didn’t we as a society decide that child porn is outside the realm of free speech? WTF is the problem with animal fighting videos, then? Someone who cannot make informed decisions for him or herself should not be exploited.
The deal offered by federal prosecutors recommends that the Atlanta Falcons quarterback serve a year in prison, The Virginian-Pilot reported in its Thursday editions. The newspaper quotes two anonymous sources.