Dog of Michael Vick's leading critic dies in hot car

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Dog of Michael Vick's leading critic dies in hot car
By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Robin Starr has been an outspoken critic of NFL quarterback Michael Vick for leading a cruel dogfighting ring. Vick acted despicably, then served his time in prison.

But today Starr is dealing with a cruel twist of fate.

A 16-year-old family dog died in the back seat of her car last week after being left there for four hours on a hot day in Richmond, Va.

Let's be clear: By all accounts so far, this was an accident that could have been avoided.

Starr, the CEO of the Richmond Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, says she didn't realize the deaf and blind dog -- named Louie -- was in the car.

That's because her husband, Ed, had put the dog in the back seat but failed to tell his wife. The dog died of kidney failure.

Already, internet message boards are full of hateful comments about Starr. Some try to equate the accident involving her dog with the Vick dogfighting incidents.

There is no valid comparison at all, and people know it.

Vick knew exactly what he was doing when dogs were mauled or even killed during the dog fights at his home.

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Re: Dog of Michael Vick's leading critic dies in hot car

The Irony: Michael Vick Gets Standing Ovation On Return and the VA SPCA Executive Leaves Dog In Car for 4 Hrs
Fri, 28 Aug 2009

If you didn't see Michael Vick's return to the NFL, we have the footage under the hood for you.
The lady that's up top, Robin Starr, was a major figure in pushing for a more severe punishment for Michael Vick. Ironically enough, she just killed her dog by leaving the dog in her car:
A prosecutor said no charges are planned against the executive for an anti-animal cruelty group whose 16-year-old... ...blind and deaf dog died after accidentally being left in a hot car for four hours. Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Tracy Thorne-Begland said Wednesday charges are not planned against Robin Starr, CEO of the Richmond Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Starr says she didn't realize "Louie" was in the car until noon. Starr's husband, Ed, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch he put the dog in her car's cargo area as she got ready for work Aug. 19 but forgot to tell her. She often took the dog to work with her.
Robin Starr took the dog to two clinics, but he died of kidney failure. The National Weather Service says the temperature had reached 91 degrees by noon that day. Starr has been a vocal critic of Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick who was released from federal custody July 20 after serving 18 months of a 23-month sentence for his role in running a dogfighting ring. When Vick was reinstated to the NFL, Starr said "The action of the NFL commissioner to reinstate Michael Vick is both premature and unwise. Vick has not yet demonstrated that his remorse is sincere or that his irresponsible, cruel and criminal behaviors are likely to change. The NFL and its leadership apparently lack the integrity to require civilized behavior from their players. This would reflect poorly on any team that adds Vick to its roster."
Ho, sit down! Hey PETA...."The Fans Have Spoken!"
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[St_Bess]

Re: Dog of Michael Vick's leading critic dies in hot car

Aye sah you see sey God naa sleep.
Everthing will come full circle
if you live long enough... but this
was quick bra bra.

[X]

Re: Dog of Michael Vick's leading critic dies in hot car

aie sah.. dem sey yuh nuf fi teck bad things meck joke but..

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Re: Dog of Michael Vick's leading critic dies in hot car

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Posted on Fri, Aug. 28, 2009


Commentary
What about Vick's victims?
Those caring for some of the animals rescued from his dogfighting ring still wonder about the quarterback's sincerity.
By Francis Battista

Twenty-two dogs rescued from Michael Vick's dogfighting operation were brought to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary last year. They arrived at our Utah facility in various states of trauma. While we've had many breakthroughs with the dogs, some have yet to recover. And some may never recover from the abuse and neglect they suffered in Vick's care.

To our knowledge, neither Vick, his handlers, nor the NFL has called to ask how the dogs are doing. And these very real, living victims of the crime are nowhere to be found in the continuing debate about Vick's rehabilitation.

Vick's handlers had shopped him around to various national animal organizations, including Best Friends Animal Society, while he was still in prison. We were interested, but we did not want to involve Vick in our work and effectively give him our endorsement unless he actually demonstrated his remorse by taking on some unheralded volunteer work. Perhaps it would be spending six months or a year doing helpful chores at some animal shelter, or visiting community centers to talk to kids without any fanfare or expectation of personal gain.

When Vick was busted for dogfighting, the publicity generated a wave of discussion and public examination of the horrors of this awful sport. The public outrage surrounding his arrest and conviction were probably the most effective measures against animal fighting since they closed the Roman Coliseum.

Now Vick has returned to football in an Eagles uniform, playing in his first game since his conviction this week. Reports from the locker room say teammates are supportive, relying on the argument that he has paid his debt to society. But Philly fandom is clearly divided, with detractors saying the Eagles and the NFL have shown that all their talk about character and role models is just that - talk.

Vick is also working with the Humane Society of the United States. Unfortunately, the Humane Society's well-meaning involvement is taken as a character reference and apology for a man who killed dogs with his bare hands in unbelievably cruel ways.

The Eagles are complicit in that they brought Vick on board before he had taken even the slightest redemptive measures for animals. The team satisfied his handlers' agenda by facilitating his immediate return to the privileged confines of the NFL, with nothing more to go on than the word of a known liar and animal abuser.

Vick may have paid his legal debt to society, but how does one begin to assess his heart and mind when he has done little more than say what he had to say to get his job back?

More than anything, this episode demonstrates what little regard our society has for nonhuman life. We compartmentalize violent, antisocial behavior according to the species of the victim.

Vick personally drowned, electrocuted with jumper cables, and body-slammed dogs to death, when he could have paid a veterinarian to put them down with lethal injections. After all, he paid someone to meticulously remove the teeth - roots and all - of Georgia, one of the dogs now at Best Friends, so she could be bred without endangering her male partner.

Would someone who expressed that level of aggression and violence against another person, even without a death involved, ever be considered for immediate readmission to professional sports?

This isn't just a sentimental animal lover's assessment. Animal cruelty is a proven gateway for violent criminals ranging from the Columbine kids to your run-of-the-mill wife-beater.

Imagine if the bodies of those animals had turned up at random in Philadelphia neighborhoods over the course of several months. Would the good people of the city want the person responsible playing quarterback for their beloved team?

As it stands, Vick is well on his way to regaining his former status, thanks in large part to the Eagles and the Humane Society. I hope the Humane Society's gamble pays off for the animals.

Vick certainly appeared concerned about returning to football as soon as possible. We would like to be more convinced of his concern for animals, if only he could humble himself by changing water, scooping poop, or sweeping floors at a local shelter - where dogs slated for deaths more merciful than those Vick meted out wait hopefully for simple acts of human kindness.




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Francis Battista is a cofounder of Best Friends Animal Society, which has cared for some of the most traumatized dogs rescued from Vick's dogfighting operation. For more information, see www.bestfriends.org.

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Re: Dog of Michael Vick's leading critic dies in hot car

Sports of The Times
Vick’s Path to Redemption Is Clear
By WILLIAM C. RHODEN
Published: August 28, 2009

Wayne Pacelle was not here Thursday night for the Philadelphia Eagles debut of Michael Vick, his controversial pitchman for antidogfighting.

Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, stayed in Washington as Vick played in his first N.F.L. game since 2006. Vick participated in six plays, completed all four of his passes for 19 yards and ran for a yard. The Eagles beat Jacksonville, 33-32.

In May, the Humane Society broke ranks with the animal rights community by announcing a partnership with Vick. Pacelle said the decision prompted some members — as many as 1,000, he said — to quit the organization.

But in an interview Thursday, Pacelle said the benefit of having Vick speak out against dogfighting outweighed the negative fallout.

“I do not believe he is ever going to get back into dogfighting,” he said. “I’m absolutely convinced of that. Do I believe that he cares about animals and wants to see dogfighting end? Yes, I do believe he wants to see dogfighting end. In terms of the depth of his passion, I’m not a mind reader, but I believe he’s going to say the right things to kids and that he’s going to stick with the program.”

Vick has been saying the right things, and he appeared on Thursday to speak from the heart, not a script. Vick met the news media after the game. For the first time, and this includes his initial news conference and an interview on “60 Minutes,” he seemed completely relaxed, candid, reflective, introspective and even joyful.

He had spent the day traveling between Philadelphia and Newport News, Va., where a federal bankruptcy judge approved his plan to repay creditors who are owed $20 million.

He entered Thursday’s game on the second play of the Eagles’ first series. For the first time in a long time, he saw the bright lights and heard the roar of the crowd. “It was a great day for me over all,” he said. “I can’t explain the feeling. It was unbelievable the way that I was embraced and just the warm welcome. It actually made me screw up one of my reads.”

Vick talked about going off the script on a play that called for him to pass to a running back. Instead, he took off and ran. “It was just the excitement and being out there,” he said. “After a while, I told myself to calm down, the big plays will come.”

Vick shouldn’t judge acceptance from the response he got from Eagles fans inside the stadium. There, he is preaching to the choir, one desperate for its first championship since 1960. The positive response inside Lincoln Financial Field was offset by anti-Vick demonstrations outside it, a sobering reminder that not everyone is happy with Vick or the Eagles.

Peter Bentivegna was part of what he called “an organic, independent citizen-run demonstration” to bring public attention to the issue of cruelty. “In an ideal world, this would help reduce the number of animals that are murdered at shelters every day,” Bentivegna said. “We’re hoping to take the publicity that’s surrounding the signing of Michael Vick and get people to be aware of the plight of these animals and help either rescue, foster or adopt.”

Bentivegna wants to use Vick at a local level the way the Humane Society is using him nationally: to call attention to a dimension of the animal-welfare problem. The relationship between Vick and the Humane Society is part of a well-manicured initiative that benefits Vick as well as the organization. Vick uses the Humane Society for validation. The Humane Society plans to use Vick to discuss the evils of dogfighting and animal cruelty with young adults in urban areas.

Thursday’s protest, while tame, reflects a polarization around animal rights — and Vick — that exists in Philadelphia and probably in every city the Eagles will visit this season.

There was a cluster of animal-rights demonstrators who were predominantly white in one area outside the stadium and a predominantly African-American group of pro-Vick supporters in another area.

“I think it’s fascinating that it seems to have fallen out along racial lines,” Bentivegna said. “It seems just from listening to talk radio and hearing comments on the street, it does seem to be that most of the African-American people are supportive of Michael Vick having a second chance and playing N.F.L. quarterback, and most of the people who are supportive of the animals are white people. That to me is fascinating, but I don’t think from our standpoint it has any intended issue of race.”

Pacelle said he noted the same racial divide nationally around Vick. “I’m simply saying I’ve noted that the black community has been more embracing of Mike than the white community,” he said. “There seems to be a stronger strain of redemption and providing second chances in the African-American community maybe than in the white community.”

In an interview Friday morning, Pacelle said he really didn’t care about how Philadelphia fans reacted to Vick. “We haven’t been boosters or P.R. people for Vick,” he said. “We’re giving him an opportunity to fulfill his pledge to combat dogfighting.”

Vick will be a lightning rod for a number of intriguing issues. Ultimately, for Vick, the central theme — the only theme — must be antidogfighting. More than anything he does on the field, effectively hammering home the gospel of animal rights and animal welfare will be Vick’s ticket to redemption.

<span style="font-weight: bold">everynite cockfighting goes on unabated in communities dat r known fi dem passion fi dis sport..said communities also ha di said passion fi dogfighting...why r they not raided...because dem no ha a high profile smaddy dat dem can rally di usual arung.. </span>

Vick's case stopped being about dogs a long time ago