Vick's dogs -- warning...very graphic

[northernlights]

The MSM shows us the pretty pictures of the few dogs that were adoptable. Here is the face of one of Vick's victims. I wonder, how does he or she look today? Still alive? These dogs knew nothing but viscious beatings and horror from the time they were born.



As painful as this dog's face is to look at...the worst pain is on the inside and will last a lifetime. The fear, the loneliness, the isolation right at the center of their broken hearts.


http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://thefastertimes.com/sportschat/2010/02/24/michael-vicks-reality-show-vs-the-american-people/&h=300&w=259&sz=20&tbnid=JHhLc3huNjkgXM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=100&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dvicks%2Bdogs&zoom=1&q=vicks+dogs&hl=en&usg=__-sT5NNRdhoyK38Fh6cV2oCH1fWw=&sa=X&ei=N9_nTLaYJ4KCsQPJ3t2wCw&ved=0CCEQ9QEwAg

[hlthe2b]

1. There is a book out about the survivors.. who have done very well

I posted a thread with pictures not long ago... You can search or I will try to a bit later.

[hlthe2b]

2. Here: Photos: Michael Vick's Dogs and their tales of Rescue & Redemption

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=9150654

[northernlights]

3. and here is Mel, the bait dog who hides in corners and convulses when he meets strangers

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-plaschke-20101117,0,5163298.column



and note that the dog in the OP had his lips literally ripped off and apparently bones underneath crushed (hence the nose twisted sideways). Do you think he has the pretty face today of the adopted dogs?

And then there was the female with all her teeth ripped out -- she was determined to never be adoptable right from the get-go. To paraphrase the rescue org, "She was completely spent. Just spent."

[Beacool]

16. Thanks for the link, the column brought tears to my eyes.

I hope that there is a special place in hell for those who abuse the defenseless: children, the elderly, the disabled and animals.

:-(

[hlthe2b]

22. Did you confuse my reply about the positive stories...

with somehow meaning to suggest that there were no horror stories? Only a portion of the dogs had any chance of being rehabilitated and if successful, being adopted out. You must not know me or my posts on animal issues at all. I will NEVER forgive Vick for what he did and I am admittedly "near-militant" when it comes to animal cruelty. I answered your OP, thinking you were honestly unaware of the outcomes for any of the dogs. Your seeming effort to castigate me, is really undeserved.

I'm just very pleased that there were some successful adoptions out of the process. The resilience of dogs is a wonderful thing. BTW, some of the dogs in the book had faces that were absolutely mangled.

[northernlights]

25. I wasn't sure, but did think it would take the thread in the direct of everythings ok so just time

to move on. It wasn't an effort to castigate, just re-inforcing the main point: it's too easy for some people to look at the happy pictures and think "all's well that ends well" and justify "moving on" to themselves. There has been plenty of that in the media.

There is great suffering behind those pretty pictures. It's easy to forget that because we want to close our eyes to it. I am glad to know the book included photos of the mangled.

I refuse to close my eyes to their suffering. I refuse to close my eyes to the facts of dogfighting. Every time Vick and his friends start telling us it's "time to move on" and "forgive and forget," I will be posting pictures of the mangled faces that can never move on.

The poster that called me racist got one thing half right: I am attention-seeking. Just not for myself, but for the dogs that Vick and his friends think we should forget.

[hlthe2b]

26. There is value in telling the good aspects as well...

SO many demanded those dogs be euthanized and suggested it was irresponsible to try to rehabilitate and adopt them out. Just another part of the demonization of pitbulls and similar breeds when it is humans that are at fault and the problem.

[northernlights]

28. the happy endings have been on tv and in magazines. and even DU..

but the unhappy middles, not so much. The first time I saw the pic in the OP, it had been photoshopped to be less horrific. The true horror needs to be looked at. I understand your point...but again, the happy stories have been posted many, many times. I have no problem with them being juxtoposed against the horrific pictures. But people need to see the whole story...how horrible it was, without whitewashing, without photoshop.

Maybe if people look a little more at what is done to these poor dogs, and see that some of them were able to be successfully adopted out, they'll be in less of a hurry to blame them and get a better understanding of how they end up as they do.

[hlthe2b]

29. well, I suspect you and I both...

would wind up in jail, if we ever came face to face with Michael Vick. I know it would be damned hard for me not to give him one hell of a slap--even though he could readily kill me.

[beam me up scottie]

35. Jesus. Fucking. Christ.

Poor Mel.

One could argue he is one of the lucky ones, he probably enjoys life some of the time.

I suffer from PTSD. I enjoy life most of the time. I can control (mostly) my fear when I'm awake. But when I sleep, I dream. Oh god, how I dream.


Imagine Mel's dreams. Imagine the horror of having to relive his worst nightmares even when awake.

No wonder the female dog didn't want to be adopted. I doubt she wanted to live.

Imagine what it's like when it hurts just to exist.





There is no justice for animals wronged such as this, there never has been, nor can there ever be.

[hamsterjill]

46. The survivors are a testament to what human love can do.

Can you imagine the amount of calm, patience, understanding and sheer love that it took to get ANY of these dogs to believe in human beings again? I can't, and I admire greatly the people and organizations, especially Best Friends Network, who spent countless hours and dollars to rehabilitate the dogs. The fact that the dogs have come around is a great testament to what love can do.

Here we have the worst of a human being (as in Vick), and we have the best of humans (as in the rehabilitators).

I don't care how many touchdowns he makes, how many wonderful plays he sets up, how many jerseys he wears, how many trophies he receives, or how many shallow apologies from him that I hear. As for me, I will NEVER forget, Mr. Vick!

[the other one]

4. Unrec'd for using shock to seek attention

Why not post pics of the stacks of dead pets at the local kill shelter? How about freshly slaughtered cows?

We get it: Mike Vick is a scary black man who invented animal abuse.

[northernlights]

5. no. Vick is a sociopath who is looking for pity, instead of seeking redemption

and as long as football fans continue to post and write articles about how we all need to "get over it" because he "paid his debt to society" and"lost millions of dollars (cue up the violins) and should be able to get on with making more millions...many of us will continue to remind people of the heinous nature of the crimes he committed and the fact that his surviving victims will pay for a lifetime.

These are not ordinary crimes, any more than the crimes committed in our names at Abu Graib are ordinary crimes.

He is a sociopath or a psychopath or both. He has refused *any* analysis or therapy. Until he exhibits some sense of remorse, some sense of the wrongness of torture, some sense of a true wish to atone, some sense of empathy for his victims, he remains a danger to society.

And, for the record, I don't care how many people unrec because I'm not in the rec/unrec contest. But I do thank you for the kick.

[SammyWinstonJack]

10. +1

:applause:

[laundry_queen]

23. +1,000,000 nt

[RamboLiberal]

30. +1000 - I'm K&R - I can never support Vick for what he did

[Still Blue in PDX]

31. Thank you for posting.

People should NEVER get over this. Vick being cheered by football fans is just one more reason I am saddened by this dumbass country I live in. And yes, anyone suggesting that I move, I know I could . . . ha, if I could afford it. I'm upside down on my house and am lucky enough to be employed, so as long as my employer will have me I will be working until I die.

[JuniperLea]

41. +1

But you're a bad person for you inability forgive, donchano...

I quite sure he is only doing the "positive" things his PR consultant is setting up for him, and only so he can return to his mega bucks gig.

[AmandaMae]

50. +1

[JanMichael]

7. The problem is, you don't seem to "get it."

This has nothing to do with Vick being black; he certainly didn't "invent" abuse. When you watch his games, when he wins awards and gets paid huge amounts of money, he is being rewarded for being a sociopath. He's lucky he was caught before he decided to torture something else-- But, I think the fact that he hasn't even contacted Best Friends...NOR his agent...to even inquire about those dogs suggests that he really doesn't give a damn, still.

[Maine-ah]

27. he's being awarded for his ability.

that said, I personally feel he's a piece of shit, and he should never have been given a chance to play again.

When it all comes down to it, he'll be remembered like OJ Simpson. Not for his ability, but for the crimes committed.

[Still Blue in PDX]

32. Of course he doesn't.

He reminds me in so many ways of "GWB," except instead of being born into a rick white family he can play football. Doesn't matter what kind of sick sociopath he is; he will be rewarded.

:puke:

[Beacool]

9. Why does it ALWAYS have to come down to race????

What Vick did was despicable, his race is irrelevant. How can you look at that poor dog and not be outraged and disgusted by what was done to it and so many other dogs?

:eyes:

[SammyWinstonJack]

11. -1

Fail.

[BakedAtAMileHigh]

12. what a total load of shit. you should be ashamed of yourself

You should be ashamed of yourself for calling the OP racist. What total evil fuckery.

Seriously, you should be deeply ashamed of yourself.

[City Lights]

14. -1 to you.

And a rec to offset your unrec.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

19. so...YOU see race in this? say a shitload about you

and your ilk. IT IS NOT ABOUT FUCKING RACE; IT IS ABOUT AN ASSHOLE WHO MAIMED AND KILLED DOGS FOR FUN AND PROFIT! A multimillionaire no-less, so I would say it was more fun for him than profit.

take your fucking race-baiting bullshit and blow it out your backside...

sP

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

20. I don't care what color his skin is. His actions

were despicable.

[flvegan]

34. Rec.

To counter idiocy.

[emilyg]

36. How dare you bring

race into this?

[truebrit71]

40. And a rec to counter yours...

No. You obviously DON'T get it.

[JuniperLea]

42. Fuck that ridiculous bullshit...

This has nothing to do with his race, not a goddamn thing.

If Vick had tortured and murdered any of those animals, they'd be pictured here too. But he didn't. He tortured and brutally murdered many dogs.

You disgust me.

[Catherina]

43. No. Vick his a football hero, term used lightly, whose slobbering fans

don't want to bother their beautful minds with the atrocities he committed. Other fans are foolishly playing the race card as if race had anything to do with the outrage.

Thread recommended.

[racaulk]

45. No one in this thread mentioned Vick's race until you did.

What does that say about you?

And the "invented animal abuse" line is also something completely of your fabrication.

[hedgehog]

6. I was never reallly interested in football, and now I can't bear to watch it at all.

Setting that aside however, Vick's case raises serious questions; do we allow any criminal to do his or her time and return to society? Are our prisons for punishment only, rehabilitation, protection of society or some combination? Since Vick has been sentenced and punished according to statute, why object to him resuming his life? We have millions of ex-convicts in this country, if we don't allow them to close the book once they've served their time, how do we expect them to live? Maybe more crimes should be subject to life imprisonment, simply to protect society. However, a system which mandates a de jure prison sentence and a de facto life spent on the edge is wrong.

Some may argue that Vick is a special case, that he as a professional football player is a symbol for young people, etc. Take that argument and I suggest that we return to the subject of football. Every game involves men and boys engaged in behaviors that would get them arrested if they were done anywhere outside the football stadium. Professional players tend to find themselves more or less crippled by age 45, with ruined knees, hips, etc. The evidence is growing that repeated concussions cause permanent brain damage and early death. Some example for young people!

[northernlights]

8. those are very good questions.

Maybe for certain crimes the statutes need to be revised to *require* some kind of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. Ongoing until the perpetrators show serious evidence of understand exactly what they did and why it is wrong. Exhibit honest sorrow about what they did and honestly attempt to atone for it.

As governor, W rejected the last appeal of a murderer who had spent her life in prison atoning for her crimes. (Her name escapes me now, but I'll bet somebody here will remember it). She wasn't just a model prisoner -- she became a born-again (just like W, except a real one), she educated herself, taught the other prisoners, etc.

The family of her victims asked W to spare her. She wasn't asking to be released from prison. Only to be allowed to live so she could continue to atone.

That is what I'm talking about. Until cold-blooded, sociopathic murderers and torturers acknowledge and commit their lives to atoning to that degree, they remain a danger. Because they just don't care.

Vick didn't torture the dogs cause he needed money. He tortured them for *pleasure*. That is a sick, dangerous mind.

Vick has paid "societies fines." Nobody is successfully stopping him from earning a living. That doesn't mean he -- or his friends and supporters -- can expect people to forget what he did.

Just because he and his friends have conveniently forgotten his victims, doesn't mean we should.
Just because the MSM is trying to whitewash his past with pretty stories about the dogs who recovered means we should forget those who cannot.

66 dogs were pulled from his farm. 43 were sent to rescues. That means 23 were deemed unsalvageable and euthanized.
How many dogs, cats and other small animals died there, either tortured to death at Vick's and his friends hands, or died being used as bait?
Just because Vick has "paid his debt" doesn't mean those animals and their suffering should be forgotten.

[JanMichael]

15. Karla Faye Tucker. I hated Bush for that. I remember

when he said in a falsetto, mocking voice to an interview "Don't kill me!" and then laughed.

I knew there was something bad wrong with him from that incident. Society lost the day she was killed; she was genuinely trying to do something good with her life for the benefit of society...and you are correct, she did not want to get out of prison. She wanted to continue to attempt to teach children about the dangers of drugs.

[northernlights]

17. yes, that was who I meant

she died singing "Amazing Grace."

That is atonement.

And yes, W mocked her on tv, "Please, please Mr. Governor, please don't kill me."

Which begging, for the record, never took place.

[Flying Dream Blues]

18. Yes, there is something wrong with him; he is a sociopath.

Sad, isn't it? That incident should have made everyone see how unqualified he was. He has no human decency whatsoever. I think he has to be the most base character ever to hold the office.

[I Have A Dream]

24. I agree.

:(

It's so sad that so many people still have no problem whatsoever with what occurred at his hands. The world is a much worse place because of him and his supporters.

[OneGrassRoot]

47. They are good questions...

I've loved football -- more specifically the Steelers -- since I was little. More and more, given the concussions and just the violence of it, is turning me off. I've never been able to handle boxing, as the goal there is very specifically to take the other person OUT, but I'm viewing football in a similar light lately given all the injuries, and how it's equally about slamming the other player as it getting a touchdown.

But it's not just the injuries, it's our professional sports/celebrity culture in this country that is appalling. The double standard of everything is ridiculous, and we must stop elevating these people to something they aren't simply because they're on TV for one reason or another.

There are non-violent and violent crimes. I have a hard time forgiving people who were directly involved with violent crimes. Vick's crime is especially heinous, imho.

H20 Man has a good thread on forgiveness here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9598201&mesg_id=9598201

(NL, I couldn't bear to read the OP or look at the image, to be honest)

[northernlights]

48. it's ok, OGR. I posted the warning so people wouldn't get the kick in the gut I got

when I first saw it without a warning. The text of the OP is simple -- the MSM shows us pretty pictures afterwards, and glosses over the suffering. this is the face of one of Vick's dogs *before* the healing. I am burning it into my brain. I'm looking at it daily, sometimes over and over and feel so sad for all those dogs and what they suffered.

What Vick did is despicable. But it's also frightening. He wasn't on drugs. He wasn't defending himself.

He did it for pleasure. He listened to their cries of pain while he tortured them with his own hands...and got pleasure from that.

[Nye Bevan]

13. Horrible. His 2 years of prison time were justly deserved. (nt)

[uppityperson]

21. A friend lost a sweet dog, we all hoped it got hit by a car and not snatched

for fighting. Thinking of that happening makes us sick. These poosr dogs.

[madmax]

33. I want so much to buy the book

but, I know I can't bear the pictures and what they endured to get to the good news of where they are today. This sickens me so much as I know all of you are too.

Vick should be shunned, not playing football. No, I don't care that he paid his 'debt' to society. He's scum and should be ignored. There is no excuse for what he did. He sure as hell didn't need the money - is he some sort of Sadist. Screw you, Vick.

[northernlights]

37. Kicking as a reminder -- what Vick did to dogs, just for his own entertainment and pleasure nt

[northernlights]

38. kicking again to remind those who think Vick contributes to society by kicking a fucking ball nt

[ileus]

39. It'd be nice to see him win a Super Bowl.

And VT is looking good also.

[Catherina]

44. I'll laugh the day Vicks get *punished* for not performing up to par. n/t

[superduperfarleft]

49. It'd be nice to see him get his spine snapped on the field.

Fuck Vick. And fuck his defenders who can't be bothered to look past their stupid game.

[kjackson227]

51. Vick is sick! I wonder how many hours of psychoanalysis...

this dipshit got?!?!?

There is something seriously wrong with this man to do something like this to animals.

[northernlights]

52. zero hours. He continues to refuse any psychoanalysis

never mind psychotherapy.