Vick = Out

 

Michael Vick is out of prison today and the dogosphere is on overdrive about it:

• The Bark examines ESPN's coverage & muses about what Vick's meeting with the Humane Society really mean
• ESPN's coverage
• Huff Po weighs in
• NPR examines the much-needed PR winVick will need out of the gate
• Bad Rap does it the classy way, with a make-you-tear-up video of a rehabilitated Vick dog, the lovely, lovely Jhumpa and others on CNN by way of Anderson Cooper (I can't think of a better advertisement for how lovely pits are than seeing Jhumpa with all her doggie friends)

There's a lot of noise about Vick possibly working with the Humane Society in some way and his wish to lead a new kind of life in the wake of his 23 months in prison.

We've been closely following all the good work folks like Bad Rap have done to rehabilitate many of the Michael Vick dogs and find homes for them.  For those of us who work with dogs every day, this has been both gut-wrenching (the dog fighting) and awe-inspiring (the work of teams like Bad Rap.)

Now that he's out, folks in the dog community seem to fall into two camps - those who are skeptical at best about Vick turning over a new leaf and those who are willing to set their anger aside and take him at his word that he's changed.

What do you think?

Comments

[Tracey Nelson]

I don't believe that Vick has come through with his 'word' ... he told the NFL what they wanted to hear. I also don't believe that 23 months in prison would 'reform' an individual such as Vick, who enjoyed watching dogs killed in such a manner as well as doing the killing himself. This type of individual should NOT be praised by the NFL or by anyone.

[walkfido]

Tracey -

Agreed! We had high hopes initially. We were skeptical, but hoped that somehow he would turn this around and become a role model for others, be truly sorry for what he'd done, etc.

Instead, it is clear he is not worried at all about his actions and now seems to be shifting his story quite a bit...blaming others for his actions & distancing himself from them rather than owning up to them.

We are very disappointed that the NFL has chosen to reward his behavior. A sad day for dogs, indeed.