Why animal-lovers haven’t — and won’t — forgive Sick Vick
By Gina Spadafori
November 3, 2009
When Michael Vick flew in with the only team so ethically deprived/desperate to sign him, the Philadelphia Eagles, to play the Oakland Raiders in BADRAP’s back yard, the folks at BADRAP offered to let him see how well his former fighters were doing and apologize to the dogs directly, they heard back from him …
[Nothing]
{More nothing]
[And still more nothing]
When protesters showed up to greet him at the game, they were met by louts who weren’t so silent. “He paid his dues,” seems to be the prevaling message put out by his enablers moneysuckingleeches PR crew/agents/lawyers/image rebuilders. Except that the Vick fans at the game who shared their version of this carefully placed PR lie were much more blunt in delivering it. (At a Raiders game? Who would have thunkit?)
But Michael Vick hasn’t paid, doesn’t care and there’s no sign of any of that changing.
In her blistering column for SFGate.com, our Christie Keith writes:
However many times dog lovers hear such advice [to move on], they’re not getting any closer to taking it. That’s because not only has Vick not served one minute in prison for animal cruelty, he was far more cruel to his dogs than most of his defenders seem to realize.
Most people are aware that Michael Vick was “convicted of dog fighting.” They know he went to prison, and they’ve also probably seen the news stories, including a moving Sports Illustrated cover story, about the Vick dogs that were rescued and rehabilitated after being seized from his Bad Newz Kennels.
But that’s only part of the story.
“What Michael Vick did was not just dog fighting,” said Marthina McClay of Our Pack, a pit bull rescue group in Santa Clara, and the owner of one of the Vick dogs, Leo. “It went so far beyond that, and most people who defend him are uninformed. They don’t really realize what Michael Vick did.”
If you’re one of the people McClay is talking about, let me invite you into Donna Reynolds’ nightmare.
Click to get a look into hell. And read the backstory on Christie’s SFGate.com article in an earlier blog post here.
I believe I’m going to puke after reading details.
Comment by Phyllis DeGioia — November 3, 2009 @ 11:26 am
This is the number one most read article on SFGate.com today, the second most emailed article, and the article with the fourth most comments.
Maybe it will get the word out a bit more than I thought it would.
Comment by Christie Keith — November 3, 2009 @ 11:42 am
Christie, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for that article. When you posted the link to BADRAP awhile ago and I read what had actually happened, I told everyone I knew. That information is so important. I’ll be forwarding your article to all the “He paid his dues” people I know.
Comment by C.L.H. — November 3, 2009 @ 11:44 am
I’m gald the word is out or getting out about Vic. What he did makes me sick many times over and to think he is working and making money and I bet that his heart just doesn’t care about what he did to his poor helpless dogs, not really, no amount of prison can change such a mean heart. Yeah, I’m jaded when it comes to Vic.
Comment by Snoopys Friend — November 3, 2009 @ 11:54 am
Thank you.
I doubt any here will want to read them, but the Smoking Gun has an extensive cache of documents on the case, which include statements by witnesses and investigators. I won’t link each (I’d just wind up in the spam trap!), but the link to the SG is:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/
The worst and most telling of these, IMHO, is a Federal investigative report from August 28, 2008, which provides details on the operation, the testing of the dogs, the methods used to kill unsatisfactory dogs, and the use of pets as bait.
It’s the last I’ve had nightmares about. And now I’m going to go hug my own little dog.
Comment by Eucritta — November 3, 2009 @ 3:20 pm
Christie’s article on SFGate.com is approaching 800 comments. The consensus is running strongly against Sick Vick.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — November 3, 2009 @ 9:28 pm
Christie, congratulations on the excellent article.
Comment by LauraS — November 3, 2009 @ 11:17 pm
Yeah, but, ya know —
We animal nuts are just haters who can’t get over it and move on.
Also, we hate people and don’t care at all when people are crime victims.
And also, racists.
Comment by H. Houlahan — November 3, 2009 @ 11:24 pm
And also—
How many more are doing the same as Vick?
How many more that the police overlook?
Comment by Colorado Transplant — November 4, 2009 @ 6:11 am
Has anyone heard anything about Vick’s new reality show?
Comment by retrieverman — November 4, 2009 @ 10:53 am
even hearing his name is extremely distasteful.
he hasn’t been rehabilitated and probably never will be.
seeing all those brutalized dogs and hearing how they were killed is something that i will never forget about and i hope others won’t too.
Comment by lesliek — November 4, 2009 @ 4:52 pm
Wow… the column has over a THOUSAND COMMENTS on it now… still on the most commented and most emailed lists…
Comment by Christie Keith — November 4, 2009 @ 10:21 pm