Animal rights activist says Michael Vick can help

The NFL's decision to reinstate disgraced quarterback Michael Vick has been an unpopular one with many animal-rights groups -- but not all of them.

Susan Kelly, head of the Richmond Animal League, yesterday called on animal-rights activists to put aside their personal feelings about Vick and think instead about the attention he can draw to the issue of animal abuse.

"Whether we like it or not, people still identify with him," Kelly said. "He still connects with people. When he talks, they still listen. And that is a very, very powerful tool."

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday said Vick -- assuming he can find a new team willing to sign him -- can begin working out immediately and could play in a regular-season game as soon as Week 6. Vick was suspended indefinitely by the NFL in August 2007 after he admitted bankrolling the Bad Newz Kennels dogfighting operation in Surry County.

He spent the better part of the next two years in various federal prisons or home confinement.

Vick met with the president of the Humane Society of the United States while incarcerated in Leavenworth, Kan. He plans to work with the organization in a program designed to steer inner-city youths away from dogfighting. He was not permitted to work with the program while in custody.

Vick's release from confinement last week and his reinstatement to the league where he once was a high-paid star with the Atlanta Falcons have reignited negative feelings from many animal-rights activists about whether he is truly remorseful and deserves another chance.

Kelly said those sentiments should take a back seat. "Talk about the dogs," she said. "It needs to be about them. The only thing that matters now is he is out of prison and he needs to use his second chance.

"That's his debt to society -- to use whatever is in his power to prevent dogfighting."

Kelly knows her position puts her on something of a philosophical island. She also knows skepticism is prevalent.

One national animal-rights group responded to Vick's reinstatement by pledging to watch him like a hawk.

Robin Robertson Starr, chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA, joined a number of groups in saying it was premature to reinstate the former Virginia Tech star.

But Kelly said Vick is in a unique position.

"Before him, nobody talked about the blood sport of dogfighting, and he's really brought the whole issue to the forefront," she said. "He has been given a second chance.

"And we need to let him capitalize on that chance, because he can get in there and get the word out."

Kelly said whatever personal dislike she may have for Vick is countered by the fact that many of the surviving Bad Newz Kennels dogs have been or are being rehabilitated with an eye toward becoming pets.

That group includes Gracie, a female pit bull that was used as a breeding dog at Bad Newz but is now living a life of luxury as one of several pets of a Richmond Animal League board member. A laid-back, friendly dog, Gracie spent the day yesterday greeting visitors at the league's shelter just south of Chesterfield Towne Center.

Kelly said Gracie is a powerful reminder that second chances can produce positive results.

"We can't dwell on the past," she said. "We've got to move to the future."

Contact Joe Macenka at (804) 649-6804 or jmacenka@timesdispatch.com