On Sunday, a team of 11 Red Star Animal Emergency Services responders from the American Humane Association will return to a shelter near St. Louis to help care for and socialize some 500 dogs that were rescued in a July dogfighting raid, the biggest in U.S. history, which spanned Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas. This news comes on the heels of guilty pleas from Robert Hackman, Teddy Kiriakidis, Ronald Creach and Michael Morgan entered Monday to conspiracy and other crimes, admitting their roles in breeding, trafficking, fighting and killing pit bulls in a lucrative dogfighting network, the Associated Press reports. A fifth co-defendant, Jack Ruppel, pled guilty Sept. 4.

Humane responders take on task of socializing 500 dogs from raid – Paw Print Post: A community for Dog, Cat, and Pet Owners – USATODAY.com

Michael Vick’s dogs will be receiving some media attention today, helping to focus the spotlight on some of the victims of his crimes as opposed to shining the glory of the lights on the criminal as has been done all summer long by most news and media outlets.

Dr Phil’s looking for feedback – Should Michael Vick have been reinstated?

“Do you live in the Philadelphia area?  Do you feel that Michael Vick should have been reinstated to the NFL? Yes or No?  Why do you feel this way?  If you think Michael Vick deserves a second chance to play professional football, please let us know, and give us your reasons why.”

If you want Dr Phil and his audience no how you feel about this situation, leave your comments here.

September 15, 2009 : 8:44 AM ET

On Wednesday, Sept. 16, some five million to seven million viewers of the popular “Dr. Phil” talk show will get a look at the Vicktory dogs at Best Friends Animal Society.

A segment of the show will be devoted to NFL quarterback Michael Vick, who recently suited up with the Philadelphia Eagles and returned to the football field after serving a 23-month sentence on a federal dogfighting conspiracy charge.

But more importantly, the segment will feature some of Vick’s victims — 22 of whom came to Best Friends in January 2008 to heal from the trauma they suffered at the hands of Vick and others in his dogfighting ring.

I’m a lover…

“What is important to us is that people consider the dogs,” says Ed Fritz, campaign specialist for ‘Pit Bulls: Saving America’s Dog,’ one of four Best Friends’ campaigns aimed at reaching the goal of No More Homeless Pets. “There’s a lot of talk about Michael Vick and if he deserves a second chance, but no one is talking about the dogs. Don’t these dogs deserve a second chance? As long as Vick is playing with the NFL, it’s up to us to support the victims of his cruelty. Michael Vick didn’t serve one day in prison for animal cruelty. He was punished for dogfighting conspiracy.”

Vick has apologized publicly, but many question his sincerity.

“To our knowledge, neither Vick, his handlers, nor the NFL has called to ask how the dogs are doing,” wrote Best Friends co-founder Francis Battista in a moving commentary in the Philadelphia Inquirer. “And these very real, living victims of the crime are nowhere to be found in the continuing debate about Vick’s rehabilitation.” Read the entire commentary here.

EDIT – I published this article a day late.  Working too many nights, my schedule got off track.  This is one of the reasons why I only run a website and not a group.  I’m not the best organizer. 

Today is National Dog Day.  We would like to celebrate National Dog Day and encourage you to celebrate it as well.  National Dog Day is not about Michael Vick nor the NFL.  It is a travesty that on National Dog Day Michael Vick is so prominently featured by the NFL and the Eagles.

In this time of recession and world wide conflict, it is difficult but if you have the means and the disposition we’d encourage you to consider supporting National Dog Day, adopting a dog, or taking action to support dog and animal welfare.  We ask you to do this in balance with your support for other causes as well, but on National Dog Day, don’t neglect this particular cause.  The world does have many problems confronting it on many levels, but we are fortunate that in our humanity, we can exercise the ability to engage many issues simultaneously.