Michael Vick did terrible things when he was involved in dogfighting. He has paid a heavy price — not only in loss of freedom and income but in the loathing and disgust directed at him by many Americans.
Vick also seems to be redeeming the second chance he has been given. His change of heart seems genuine. The other day, for instance, he went to Capitol Hill with the Humane Society's Wayne Pacelle to argue for stronger laws against animal fighting.
The pairing once seemed unlikely. When Vick's representatives first approached Pacelle, he has said, he "scoffed at the idea. … I had no interest in dealing with him." That he now visits churches and schools with Vick offers testimony to the possibility of redemption.
Those visits might do more good than the one to Congress, where Vick and Pacelle spoke in favor of a bill that would toughen penalties for attending a dogfight and impose stiff sanctions for bringing a child to one. Forty-nine states already forbid attending such events, and 28 make a felony out of it. Congress ratcheted up animal-fighting laws in 2007 and again in 2008.
Yes, tougher penalties are needed — as we have argued before — along with more rigorous enforcement of laws already on the books. Busting up dog rings and rescuing animals from sadists also are vitally important work. But the greater change must take place outside the courts and prisons. Too many people still find it amusing to watch animals maim and kill one another for sport.
Four centuries ago in Paris, it was a popular form of public entertainment to place several cats in a net and lower them slowly over a bonfire while the screaming animals burned alive. The practice seems hideous now, almost hard to believe. Vick's work with Pacelle may hasten the day when people quite properly find dogfighting equally savage.
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