Kurt's Thoughts

NFL Quarterback Michael Vick was found to have 30 fighting pitbull bred dogs in chainson his property in Virginia along with an additional 25-35 other pit bulls elsewhere on the land.  Several were injured, others were starving, and all appeared to be bred and trained for dog fighting.

The operation is described as a large scale professional facility for dog fighting training.  There were animal fighting gear and paraphenalia, breeding equipment, treadmills, steroids and other substances to supplement the growth of dogs, bloody strips of carpeting.  Scales to weigh the dogs, antibiotics to medicate wounds, and documentation allegedly showing involvement in dog fighting ventures.

And Michael Vick claims he knows nothing about the large professional dog fighting facility on his property.

Dog fighting is a felony in Virginia however the maximum sentence is 5 years and a $2500 fine.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE
Now, I’m rarely for enacting new laws and new restrictions on people’s freedoms as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else… but because American law doesn’t recognize animals as anything other than property, immoral and amoral people get away with all sorts of cruel and inhumane behavior that would otherwise result in ridiculous consequences had the same crime been executed on a human.

This has got to stop.  On one side of the spectrum of life, people are so damned quick to protect trees… the carbon levels in the air… the encroachment on wetlands and wildlife areas… and on the other side of the spectrum, others are willing to assist abused, hungry, and downtrodden human beings so much so that they’re willing to hold concerts to aid Africa or even invade countries in the name of human rights.  And frankly, I respect all of their concerns whether they’re right or wrong.

But when it comes to the middle ground – being the custodians of God’s little living creations like dogs, cats, rabbits, snakes, and any other animals that are or aren’t otherwise pets – we humans seem to "hop" over our duties as being the guardians & shepherds of the living breathing creatures that share the earth.

And some horrible, horrible professional sports figures even have them fight to the death for sport and fortune.

SIGN THE PETITION, PLEASE
Please sign this petition to enact strong laws against animal fighting in the NFL, the NBA, and other professional sports and ask these leagues to publicly condemn sports figures that do fund and participate in such cruel behavior.  The petition publicly shows your name and your city of residence and I know that bothers some people but everyone needs to ask themselves:

This is a worthy cause:  At what point do I as a citizen need to stand up and publicly say, enough is enough.  If this isn’t a cause to put my name & address down on a petition for the world to see, what is?

SIGN HERE:  http://network.bestfriends.org/petitions/detail.aspx?pn=4&gu=stopbsl