Dangerous Animals

Apparently I need to not try to write on a subject that upsets me when Cosette is nearby, because it is challenging to type when she is climbing in my lap and licking my face in an attempt to comfort me. Goofy dog. She's laying down next to Marius now, but keeps looking at me to be sure that I am ok.

I was listening to some TED talks, and came across one about the "Vicktory dogs", the survivors of Michael Vick's fighting kennel. They were talking about how the dogs were so incredibly able to be rehabbed even though people didn't want to give them a chance at all in the first place. Even animal rescuer who thought the dogs should be removed from the kennel wanted them all destroyed without a chance. There were only a few people who tried to get the dogs a chance, and fortunately, the judge who was on the case was a good person. It often happens in those cases that the dogs are destroyed simply because they're pit bulls who have been involved in fighting.

Then I started to wonder what happened with Michael Vick. What sort of a punishment did he get for this dog-fighting mess? The answer I found? Practically nothing. He was given a 3-year prison sentence suspended on a condition of good behaviour, and a $2,500 fine. What the crap...
Personally, I think that if people want to claim that the dogs should be destroyed, Vick should be destroyed as well. He deliberately chose to force the dogs to fight and to kill the dogs which failed. He personally murdered several dogs in that kennel. All that the dogs did was what they were trained to do. They really had no option. Obviously, as they would be killed if they didn't fight. They had no choice in what they did. The humans did. The humans should be the ones to be destroyed. They talk about fighting dogs being broken beyond repair, but I think those who are broken are those forcing them into such situations.
Albert Schweitzer said, "Anyone who has accustomed himself to regard the life of any living creature as worthless is in danger of arriving also at the idea of worthless human lives." It looks like Michael Vick was well on his way to that, and it doesn't really appear that he did anything to really change his thinking. He claims that he paid his debt to society, and his past should be ignored now, but he needs serious mental help. Or to be shot. Either way is fine with me. But he definitely shouldn't be making 5 million a year playing football. He should at least be in jail, paying off his debt to society the old fashioned way, like Jean Valjean did. Though, he's not even fit to polish Valjean's shoes. But that is a different subject...