Good Newz at the Former Bad Newz Kennels

Dogs Deserve Better, an animal rights group based in Pennyslvania, is in the process of moving into one of the area's most notorious properties:  Bad Newz Kennels, the former headquarters of Michael Vick's dog fighting operation in Surry County.  The organization, which has a mission of taking dogs from owners who keep them continually in chains or in pens, closed on the property last month.

Dogs Deserve Better will turn the former dog fighting center into the Good Newz Rehab Center, a state of the art facility for caring for abused dogs.  The group adds that a memorial will be built for the dogs that were killed on the property.

In case you don't remember, Vick's career began to crumble in April of 2007, when a drug investigation of Davon Boddie, Vick's cousin, led to a search of Vick's Surry County property.  Investigators found strong evidence of a dog fighting operation.  Vick later admitted to financing the operation and personally participating in dog fights and in the killing of dogs.  The NFL superstar temporarily lost his career and most of his money while serving 19 months in federal prison.  He has since renounced dog fighting and is working with the Humane Society of the United States to discourage it.

Vick, a former star athlete at Warwick High School in Newport News and at Virginia Tech, has worked hard to resurrect his NFL career and his public image but has had a difficult time winning over some animal lovers.  Several dog owners I've talked to, including an official with a local animal rights organization, consider what Vick did to be unforgivable, no matter what he now says.   However, the Humane Society of the U.S. considers Vick an asset in the fight about dog fighting.  From their website:  "Just as former drug addicts are able to reach people struggling with addiction, former dogfighters are some of the most effective voices against this crime. We realized the potential that Vick has to reach at-risk youth and pull them out of the quicksand of animal fighting."

Links:
www.dogsdeservebetter.com
Michael Vick and Ending Dog Fighting