Whatever happened to the days when NFL stars shined? These days they make as many plays off the field as on –except instead of scoring touchdowns, they’re involved in stuff like murder (a la OJ Simpson) or running dogfighting rings.
“Say what?” you might be asking if you haven’t heard about Michael Vick, a football player for the Atlanta Falcons. He’s under investigation for running a dogfighting ring out of his home.
As far as I’m concerned, this is as serious as OJ possibly killing his ex-wife. Why? Because if it’s determined the dogs are fighting dogs, they will be euthanized. Which is just a polite way of saying the dogs will be murdered.
According to the Humane Society of the United States, such dogs don’t qualify for rehabilitation or adoption to another family. They’re bred to be aggressive to other dogs, which makes them unpredictable and dangerous. They could attack, and potentially kill, a young child, a neighbor’s pet, or even the new owner. That’s why they’re almost always put down when seized.
The fact that an innocent animal has to die because humans corrupted its innocence infuriates me every time I hear about it. (Don’t even get me started on why it’s okay to give a human killer jail time –even if it is a life sentence, they still get to live–or even the chance at redemption, but we can’t do the same for animals.)
So not only did these dogs suffer a violent lifestyle, never having the chance to see the many kindnesses us humans are capable of towards animals, now their lives are over.
Yet, Michael Vick will get…what? He’s claiming that he let his cousin live at his house and supposedly didn’t know the large on-property kennel (66 dogs were taken) was involved in any illegal activity.
Dogfights generate big bucks and rowdy crowds, yet he didn’t know about it? Riiiight.
Well, if it is found he’s involved, the good news is dogfighting is a felony in Georgia. However, possession of dogs for fighting and being a spectator at a dogfight are legal.
I don’t know what penalties Mr. Vick will ultimately suffer, if anything, but euthanizing him sounds pretty good to me. And that doesn’t necessarily mean putting him to sleep per se, just his career. See how he likes it.
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