Michael Vick: Dogman?
Well, it seems that Michael Vick the quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons is also what is called a “dogman”. A dogman is somebody who likes to fight dogs. Dog fights are brutal affairs. The dogs are fought until one of the dog scratches (refuses to fight) or one of the dogs is dead. The injuries that these dogs suffer are appalling.
[I’ve moved the image of Gypsy the dog who was on the losing end of a dog fight below the fold. It is a very disturbing picture, but it shows how barbaric dog fighting is. If you are squeamish, don’t click to see more.]
That a person can think this “sport” is entertaining speaks of unbelievable cruelty. To bet on this kind of sport, house over 60 dogs in horrible conditions simply re-enforces my view that the people involved in this activity are some of the lowest people in our society.
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was at a dog fight in 2000 and is “one of the heavyweights” in the sport, ESPN reported. The network Sunday cited a police informant whom a dog-fighting investigator called “extremely reliable.”
“That’s who bets a large dollar,” the informant said on the show “Outside the Lines.” “And they have the money to bet large money. As I’m talking about large money, 30 to 40 thousand, even higher. He’s one of the heavyweights.”
When asked how he knows Vick bets that amount, the informant said, “because I’ve seen it.”
In fairness nothing has been proven against Vick, other than property he owned had 66 dogs, 55 of them pit bulls, equipment often associated with triaining dogs to fight, and even a pit where dogs could have fought. He might be some ignorant fool who is going to bear the brunt of this horrible news. I find this possibility unlikley though, and if turns out that Vick was/is into dog fighting, I hope his life becomes a living Hell.
More here.
Warning: The following picture is rather graphic. It displays a dog that was on the losing end of a dog fight. The dog no longer has any ears, one of its forelegs had to be amputated, and its face is a mass of wounds along with a startling number of drainage tubes. The point of the picture is to show the burtality that goes with dog fighting. It is a horrible, horrible activity and in regards to the people who take part in it…let me just say, I fully support euthanasia of animals that are unsound.
Update: Vick’s claims of never having been to the Virginia property are made more dubious by the following items. First, he recieved mail there, and local residents noted that Vick bought syringes there. The latter could be related to dog fighting in that dog fighters will often take care of the injuries a winning dog sustains. Some dogmen will inject their dogs with things like vitamin K before a fight to promote blood clotting (fights can on a long time, and a dog losing due to blood loss is clearly not desirable). Also, after a fight the dogman might inject his dogs with antibiotics. You can’t take your dog to the local vet since if dog fighting is illegal he might report you to the authorities.
Can we say, “Suspension”?
Another Update: Whoopsies. Now the story is that Vick’s involvment with dog fighting was well known inside the Falcon’s orgainization and that Vick’s recruited others into dog fighting as well.
Also, the rumor is that the Falcon’s are getting ready for a 6 game suspension.
Update III: For those of you who saw the picture below the fold and wondered what happened to poor gypsy, click here to see how well she did. It just goes to show what an amazingly stable nature of the American Pit Bull Terrier. That a dog can go through something that horrific and still come out of it a happy go lucky dog…well actually her new owner says she is a bit of a spoiled brat.
Yup. Barbaric.
All he needs is a little therapy to help him understand the cruelty of his actions.
I think 5 minutes alone in the pit with one of those dogs aught to do it.
Actually, there are people in those pits. The handlers get into the pit too. What many people fail to realize is that human aggression and animal aggression are not the same. You can have a dog that has one, but not the other or both. So unfortunately, that wouldn’t be much of a punishment.
There is no qualitative difference between dog fighting and cutting the throats of cows and chickens for dinner. These things have been happening for thousands of years.
This PETA-logic is inherently problematic.
Trumph,
Killing a chicken, which was hatched and raised for the sole purpose of being food, and doing so in a way that is both quick and as painless as possible is less troubling to me. Watching dogs fight for 10, 20, 40 or more minutes inflicting, as you can see, horrendous injury on each other is several orders of magnitude different.
Damn, how about putting them in the pit with a dog lover instead?
Steve,
Man, please: put that pic below the fold with a warning. I seriously just finished lunch and was confronted with that photo which was rather jarring!
So either a person is ok with dog fighting, or they’re vegan. Or do you just like creating a false dichotomy for controversy?
Some of us assign morality based on intent and action, not merely the end result. Like Steve said, there is a world of difference between using animals for sustenance and limiting the pain the experience, and having them rip themselves apart and die slow painful deaths for entertainment.
I second that, or put it in a link, some of us view this site from work.
I know, that was the point. I selected the picture of Gypsy on purpose. All the stories about Vick are somewhat sugar-coated in that they don’t show the true ugliness and brutality that goes with dog-fighting.
Still, this has been on the main post and at the top of the blog for several hours, so I’ll move it.
Well I agree with you completely on why in the world anyone would think that was entertaining,fun or exciting.
Steve – the photo should absolutely be shown, if it makes viewers uncomfortable, think how the dogs feel.
Your reasoning is good, but the problem is that many of the practices of factory farms in this country qualify as torture by any reasonable standard. There is a pretty good chance that the chickens you eat were “de-beaked” while alive. Why? They are raised in such tight quarters that they go mad and become aggressive. So they have a little machine that cuts of their beaks so they can’t peck their neighbors.
Check out http://www.meatrix.com for information about treatment of animals on factory farms.
I can’t wait for Vick to get his lunch handed to him on this one. I’ve seen him at a few college games and the way he treated a couple little kids disgusted me (Told one kid to “go away kid…I’m not working now”). I think he’s about to find out that he’s not immune to being a jerk. What ever happened to being a role model?
Well, I’m never going to watch Vick play again.
Though, to be sure, I had never heard of him before today, and I haven’t watched a Falcons game in many years anyway.
Dang. How do you boycott a person or product you hever had any interest in to begin with?
I agree that the picture should be shown, but there is nothing wrong with warning people first.
Anjin-san;
At first I thought that it was ludicrous to think that a chicken might have a complex enough psychology to “go mad”. Then I mused momentarily on the pschological complexity of some of the politicians that I know have “gone mad”! [lol]
Mike Vick is the lowest of the low. Anyone who places money to watch these animals destroy one another is an EXTREMELY sick individual. I have no sympathy for this horrible man. Because he is a celebrity he will probably get off lightly and not learn anything from this. I feel so bad for these animals. I have owned Pitbulls for over ten years and properly socialized them. They are extremely kind animals and when placed with a RESPONSIBLE owner make fantastic pets.
“A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.”
– THE BIBLE
Before you argue with me. Step back and realize that this is what the bible says and I am only repeating it.
And if you don’t respect the bible…how come the bible by 350 B.C. says someone who existed forever would be born in Bethlehem to shepherd God’s people, the world would base their time system on this person’s birth, and God refers to this person in first person in the old testament books? Were these “prophets” not really talking to God? Were they just guessing that we would base our time system on a guys birth in Bethlehem and got lucky?