Michael Vick deserves a dog. Or does he?
Columnist Sandy Banks writes that pro football player and convicted animal abuser Michael Vick should be allowed to have a dog as a pet. She says Vick "needs a link to tenderness" and "to understand what it means to earn the trust of an animal."
Vick recently was allowed to play in the NFL again, and even President Obama said he deserved a chance to rejoin the game after he served a 19-month prison term for running a dog-fighting operation -- an opinion that brought swift criticism from animal rights groups.
"That would be like letting a pedophile be around children," a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said.
Yet, Banks writes:
It is easy to be outraged at Vick, whose dog-fighting ring was horrifically cruel. When police raided the farm he owned in rural Virginia in 2007, they discovered a pit, dog-fighting paraphernalia, the bodies of eight dogs and 66 surviving canines, many maimed and ruined.
The "Bad Newz Kennels" it was called. Ookie, as the federal plea agreement calls him, bankrolled the operation and ran it with his three partners, nicknamed T, Q and P-Funk.
Banks continued:
Michael Vick needs to get a dog because he needs a link to tenderness, not just a reminder of his toughness. He needs to understand what it means to earn the trust of an animal, and why his violations hurt us so much.
It's not about showing people you've changed, Michael. It's about actually changing. And after the Pro Bowl has been played and the season is done, watching late night replays with a puppy who is not counting your fumbles and interceptions might feel like a very good thing.
What do you think? Share your thoughts below.
Photo: The scene outside federal court in 2007 before NFL player Michael Vick's sentencing. Credit: Steve Helber / Associated Press