Sometimes finding the wonderful in something terrible awful is a feat to be accompolished only by those with a tough skin. But as many of us are celebrating the 5 year anniversary of the Vick Dog Rescues, I can say without a doubt that this is one giant big happy WONDERFUL!!!
I wrote the essay below in March of 2011. At the end I have provided a fabulous update! Many links are provided should you want to read more. Please keep in mind, I am not a professional but I have done extensive research. Everyone has a different take on this event and this take is mine, whether you like it or not. Now lets sit back and enjoy the story.
What started it all
Who would have thought that a
horrific event, insanely covered by the media, would be the catalyst that was
to change history for dogs, specifically Pit Bulls raised as fight dogs. I
viewed the PBS Need to Know video aired January 21, 2011 titled ‘Where are the
Michael Vick Dogs Now?’. (Link to video: 'The Dogs Are Alright' ) The video explored the
fates of the dogs seized from Michael Vick's property and it was suggested that
most of the dogs rescued in this case proved they deserved a second
chance. As I viewed who the key players were in the evaluation and
ultimate salvation of these dogs, I was introduced to two key antagonists who
suggested the dogs be put down, in addition to a formerly unknown San Francisco
Bay Area dog rescue who's actions in this case were key to the dogs
survival.
What’s the story anyway
In April of 2007, authorities
busted a Virginia dog fighting ring where 52 dogs were seized off of a property
owned by NFL star football player Michael Vick. Because the case involved
a celebrity, there was a media storm and incredible publicity surrounding the
story. The question that was being voiced the most by the media and the public
was what would happen to the dogs after the case was over? Surely they would be
saved, right?
I want to know more
What events unfolded that
allowed these dogs lives to be saved? Who were the main players and organizations
involved in the evaluation and rescue of these dogs? Who were the
antagonists? What happened to the dogs? Is the public rehabilitation of
the Vick Dogs enough to change the protocol for how all fighting dogs are
handled in a rescue operation involving a dog fighting bust?
Unfolding of Events
According to Jim Gorant, in his
December 24, 2008, now famous Sports Illustrated article, Virginia Judge
Henry E Hudson, presiding over the Vick Dog case, and the office of
Assistant Attorney Mike Gill, both received an incredible amount of
letters and emails pouring in from the public demanding to know what was going
to happen to the Vick dogs and insisting that the dogs be saved. Right at
that same time, Donna Reynolds, co-owner of the San Francisco area Bad Rap dog
rescue, sent Mr. Gill a proposal suggesting individual evaluations of each dog
to see if any could be spared.
Main players and evaluation
processed exposed
Protocol in these cases
historically has always been to send the dogs to a shelter where they would sit
as ‘evidence’ while the offender awaited trial. Once the trial was over, no
matter the outcome, the dogs were then euthanized because until this Vick bust happened,
all fighting dogs were deemed killing machines, blood thirsty, and kennel
trash; and therefore unable to be rehabilitated into society as family pets.
Judge
Hudson acquiesced to the public outcry, appointing Dr. Stephen
Zawistowski, head of the ASPCA, to be put in charge of putting together an
evaluation team for the dogs. The team would be Donna Reynolds and Tim
Racer, co-owners of Bad Rap Dog Rescue + one more Bad Rap member; 2 ASPCA
staffers; and three outside certified animal behaviorists who were not named.
The evaluations would put the dogs in these categories: "euthanize;
sanctuary 2 (needs lifetime care given by trained professionals, with little
chance for adoption); sanctuary 1 (needs a controlled environment, with a
greater possibility of adoption); and foster (must live with experienced dog
owners for a minimum of six months, and after further evaluation adoption is
likely)." Rebecca Huss, an animal law expert at Valparaiso University, was
designated as the person who would decide where each dog would go after being
evaluated.
Vick Dog being temperment
tested by a doll representing a child.
Dogs personalities are as
varied as humans. During the evaluations, Bad Rap owners said time and again,
it was essential that the dogs were evaluated as individuals. My favorite
quote in all of my research was from Donna Reynolds who said in this AP story, after the dogs had been
evaluated: “This is the big secret. Most of them were dog-tolerant to
dog-social. It was completely opposite of what we were led to believe."
The antagonists
It is mentioned many times in
many articles and videos that PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) ,
who had not seen or evaluated the dogs, had deemed the Vick
dogs to be “ticking time bombs and should be put down”. Even more
specifically, PETA spokesman Dan Shannon said, "The cruelty they've
suffered is such that they can't lead what anyone who loves dogs would consider
a normal life. We feel it's better that they have their suffering ended once
and for all."
Even the HSUS (Human Society of
the United States), who also had not seen the dogs, called the
Vick dogs “some of the most aggressively trained pit bulls in the country” and
recommended euthanizing the dogs.
So what happened to the dogs
47 of the 52 Vick dogs seized
were saved. Two had to be euthanized at the shelter because one was
deemed too aggressive to be rehabilitated and one dog was too sick having been
overly bred and was suffering physically and mentally. 25 dogs were deemed to
be ready for rescues and ultimately fosters. 13 of those 25 dogs were
given to Bad Rap to take to California. The other 12 were sent to various small
rescues. The remaining 22 dogs were said to be not adoptable but with time and
work a few could possibly be. Those dogs were sent to Best Friends Animal
Sanctuary in Utah where they would continue to be trained in hopes of someday
being adoptable.
Luckily for my research, BAD
RAP, the organization that took 13 of the Vick Dogs, was very vocal in their
rehabilitation process of these dogs. As soon as the gag order was lifted at
the end of January 2008, they started a blog – http://vickdogsblog.blogspot.com/, that chronicled (and still
does) the journeys of these survivors. After viewing many interviews with Tim
and Donna from Bad Rap, I discovered that all of their Vick dogs have been
placed in foster homes or have been adopted. The dogs are in homes with
other pets and some with children. According to Tim and Donna, their Vick dogs
did not necessarily need to be ‘rehabbed’ but just needed a stable situation
that involved structure, a routine, a warm bed, a lap to lay their heads on to ‘decompress
from their past and to heal from the mental and physical abuse they endured’.
All of the dogs were required to pass their Canine Good Citizens test and to
attend with their fosters or adopters weekly training sessions with Bad
Rap.
Of course the news picked up on
some of these sweet stories of the dogs: Inside Bay Area reported at a Press Conference where the world was introduced
to the dogs; One of the dogs Jonny Justice made a fabulous appearance on
the Rachael Ray Show - LINK; The CBS Morning Show
reported on 'The Lost Dogs' - a book that tells the stories
of each of the Vick Dogs - with the author Jim Gorant; and Tim
Racer, co-owner of Bad Rap Dog Rescue appeared on CNN just after the gag order was
lifted when he could talk freely about the Vick dogs.
What about the future of seized
fighting dogs?
The story of these dogs is not
a pretty one but given a second chance the journey of these dogs establishes
their worth and their ability to be reintegrated into society as loving family
pets. As the dogs journeys and the court case was documented, public perception
appears to have changed over the course of time. The public generally now
sees the dogs as victims instead of viscous beasts to be destroyed. Many
hauntingly beautiful visual essays and books have been written about the Vick
Dogs. Here are a few examples:
- The Lost Dogs - The book that
brought the Vick dogs to America's living rooms.
- Washington Post photo essay by
Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Carol Guzy
- The world's very first peek of the Vick
dogs that came home with BADRAP - AP PHOTO GALLERY
- The Photo Book Project by Melissa
McDaniels. I can tell I am going to have to start saving my money.
Another book I want. This book is all pit bull photographs, convincing
their audience through visual rhetoric, to change their minds about the
pit bull breed. The photographs portray famous pit bull personalities -
the Vick Dogs of course, Oogy - the best story I've read about a puppy
pitbull used as a bait dog that is deformed but found a loving family, and
also some dogs next door. Yep, gonna have to buy this one.
- This special PDF on the four dogs adopted
from BADRAP is a keeper. The Vick Dogs. Wow. A visual and written
rhetoric on the four of the dogs adopted out from Bad Rap.
According to Jim Gorant, as of
today, PETA's position remains unchanged even though to this day they
have never met any of the Vick dogs. PETA believes that there
are too many dogs in overcrowded shelters that are lacking resources. The
organization says that money should be spent on the spays and neuters of the
shelter animals and on the shelters themselves instead of focusing on fighting
dogs that in their opinion are too risky and not worth the cause.
Author, Dorothy Patent, who
wrote a children's book on one of the Vick Dogs, Saving Audie, says that this case and how
the dogs were handled set the precedent for how future fighting dogs were dealt
with. Bad Rap co-owner Donna Reynolds said all fighting dogs should
be able to be evaluated and rehabbed, and this case proves they deserve better
and deserve to be evaluated as individuals and to be treated
as individuals.
Dr. Frank McMillan, Director of
Well Being at Best Friends Animal Society says “We know so little about
dogs like these because so few of them have been allowed to live. We’re
learning a lot, but the work still doesn’t permit concrete conclusions. These
dogs really represent the start of these kinds of studies.”
My turn
Back in 2007 while I watched
this case unfold in the media, I was maddened by the initial focus on Michael
Vick and the endless media questions asking how a beloved football star could
do something this awful. As a dog rescuer, I immediately was saddened by what I
knew would be the fate of these seized dogs. Yet what I didn’t realize was the
publicity surrounding Michael Vick would ultimately save the dogs. I am
so overjoyed that this case was made so public because it made the rest of the
world ask – What about the dogs? In addition, the overwhelming public support
of the dogs, enabled the evaluation efforts to happen even under the public
warnings of two of the biggest animal welfare organizations that were against
the rehabilitation of these dogs. Not only that, the public journey of
these dogs recoveries and reintegration into society, has helped these dogs to
be seen as just dogs – dogs in need of a second chance. Dogs that needed
to be looked at and evaluated as individuals instead of just the grouped
stereotype that was ultimately denying them a second chance at life.
I am disappointed with PETA and
HSUS. As large, successful and well known animal welfare organizations, they
could have put their clout to good use by really speaking in defense of these
dogs, thereby really giving some push to help future dog fighting
victims. But they chose not to for reasons that I can’t seem to figure
out. Neither of these organizations met the Vick Dogs and their opinions were
so generalized and stereotypical. Only HSUS changed their opinion later,
though only after Michael Vick began volunteering for them as part of his
sentence.
Duped
As a teenager and young adult,
I always fancied myself an activist, quoting from famous activist organizations
like PETA. I mean, they're the most animal friendly organization around, right?
Even staunch republicans or backwoodsmen would be able to recall a PETA
billboard portraying some animal's rights or a PETA anti-fur campaign
highlighting a celebrity caught wearing fur. As an adult, however, I've learned
to research an organization now before I back it which more often than not,
leads me into the webs of deceipt, lies and corruption of what I once thought
was an organization I should back and support.
The Center for Consumer Freedom
(CCF) investigates organizations like PETA and HSUS. They have found that
both of these organizations created the myth of Pet Overpopulation in order so
they can justify their high kill shelters and not look for alternatives to
euthanasia. HSUS is basically front and center in creating a shelter system
designed to euthanize. However, to avoid a tangent here, let me just say that
while PETA supported Michael Vick's prosecution, at the same time, PETA was
also in trouble with the law for inhumanely
and needlessly euthanizing homeless animals in a North Carolina court
case. Possibly, these misguided views and deep pockets are what caused these
two organizations to mistakenly and publicly voice their opinions against the
Vick Dogs. This only led folks to become suspicious about their
activities, which in turn led the CCF to investigate both parties and
ultimately discover their cover ups and corruption.
PETA is being compared to
Michael Vick as seen well known in this photo here
I even feel the HSUS has done
me (the public) wrong by publicly commenting on the Vick Dogs being vicious
creatures but then turning around and running a fundraising campaign in order
to raise money to care for the Vick Dogs - of which they played no role in
whatsoever. Later, HSUS even took Vick on as a public speaker, publicly defending
him.
I feel somewhat satisfied
however that PETA and HSUS opinions were overruled by public outcry. I am
also amazed by the willingness of small rescue organizations like Bad Rap and
big rescue organizations like ASPCA who came forward and took a very public
chance on these dogs.
Epilogue: The Dogs Are Alright
Even today, as breed profiling
still exists, and many cities across the country and the world pass breed
specific legislation that outlaws the owning of pit bull dogs (and many other
breeds), there remains a bigger hope for these dogs than there was 6 years ago.
Dogs rescued from fighting busts are now largely evaluated and sent to
rescues or sanctuaries though sometimes not without a fight. Just three
months ago, a dog fighting operation was busted in the Richland Parish of
Louisiana. Nine pit bulls and a litter of puppies were seized and ordered to be
euthanized. The Delta Humane Society (DHS) with help from Bad Rap, got the
judges orders overturned and the dogs were then turned over to the DHS who took
it upon themselves to evaluate and get these dogs right into rescues. In fact,
Bad Rap just received three of these dogs (and one today). (http://badrapbarncrew.blogspot.com/2012/02/finally-names-for-new-kids.html and http://badrapbarncrew.blogspot.com/2012/02/mystery-novel.html )
Not only that, BadRap, took one
of the rescued Louisiana dogs, Tallulah (picture below), this week to UC
Berkeley, to share her story with a group of students studying animal rights.
Interestingly enough, many of the students knew only a tiny bit about the Vick
case and generally agreed they figured that most dogs rescued from fighting
rings would have aggressive personalities. Donna and Tim were able to
tell the Vick Dog stories along with introducing Tallulah, who proved the
rescued fight dog stereotype wrong once again. She amazed the students with her
gentle persona and her willingness to accept love and pets from them. There is
no doubt that her impact on these students will be a positive influence
furthering their studies.
TOP: The final survivor from a dog fighting case in rural
Louisiana - Benny! - arrived safe and sound into Oakland and is tail wagging
happy. Heartfelt APPLAUSE to the small but mighty The Delta Humane Society. Every single dog from this case went to
rescue and their abuser is being brought to justice. This is no small feat for
a community that has no animal control facility orumane investigators. We
salute DHS workhorse Casey Lattimer for insisting on nothing but the very best
outcome from day on
Final Thoughts
I've spared you, the reader,
the horrific details surrounding the Michael Vick case because I know you are
capable of finding that information if need be. Sometimes to be sure you see
things in a well rounded way, educating yourself on the not so pretty details
is necessary. I urge my readers to be sure they understand what these dogs go
through if only to broaden your views in understanding how hard it is for folks
to truly believe and insist these dogs get a second chance. It would be
possible and perhaps easy to believe that no dog would be able to overcome
those horrific circumstances to which it had been subjected to. But dogs
are amazing creatures in their ability to rebound, to let go of the past and to
trust again, all of which are part of the reason most of them can
be reintegrated into society.
Ghandi once said that a society
can be judged by the way it treats its animals. We as a society then have
a long ways to go. But because of the Michael Vick case and many of the
subsequent similar dog fighting cases after that, we have proved that these
dogs do deserve a second chance. The Vick(tory) dogs - as they are now
called, shows how a small group of humans along with public outcry can
instrumentally overpower the 'powers that be' and can begin to open hearts
and change the history for all fighting dogs.
*Update November 2012
Near the 5th anniversary
of the Vick Dogs Rescue, many of the Vick Dogs joined their rescuers and
forever families at the Bad Rap Barn for an emotional, happy reunion.
