PETA Pressuring NFL To Sack Vick

PETA, the animal rights group, spent part of yesterday protesting outside the NFL Headquarters in New York City demanding that the league take immediate action against Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick after he was indicted on charges of being a ringleader in a dog fighting ring and gambling.

"Sack Vick!" chanted the demonstrators, organized by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, as they walked peacefully in front of the Park Avenue building. Many held dogs who had the "Sack Vick" signs on their backs and one woman brought a pit bull, the breed killed in the dogfighting operation the Atlanta quarterback is accused of sponsoring.

Goodell met with officials from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The leaders of the demonstration focused on Goodell's one-year suspension of Tennessee's Adam "Pacman" Jones under the NFL's personal conduct policy, although Jones has been convicted of nothing.

"We think they should do the same with Michael Vick," said Dan Shannon, an assistant director of campaigns for PETA. "We don't think their 'wait and see' attitude goes far enough. If they suspended Pacman Jones, they can suspend Vick."

After Vick was indicted Tuesday, the NFL said it would monitor legal developments in the case. Vick is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in federal court in Richmond, Va.

On Friday, though, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said: "We agree with them that dogfighting is cruel, degrading and illegal. The alleged activities are very disturbing and we are extremely disappointed Michael Vick has put himself in this position. We are having extensive dialogue with numerous groups and individuals, including the ASPCA, and are reviewing all of our options to deal with this as quickly as possible."

The indictment, provides a litany of claims that turn one's stomach and if those charges are indeed provable in a court of law, then Vick deserves whatever fate the criminal justice system doles out.

The problem is making a rash decision based solely on the indictment. An indictment is not the same as a conviction. PETA thinks that the Pacman Jones situation is a good analogy for how the league should handle Vick.

Jones has had numerous run-ins with the law, and has violated the league's personal conduct policy, which resulted in the suspension. This is the first time that Vick has come under law enforcement scrutiny.

PETA itself has come under scrutiny for how it treats animals it 'rescues.' Far from being as ethical as its name implies, it has been found to dispose of animals instead of finding stray pets homes. One such incident occurred in North Carolina.

Since 2001, PETA has taken animals from shelters in Bertie, Hertford and Northampton counties and the town of Windsor.

Documents filed with the state of Virginia showed that PETA euthanized about 6,100 domestic animals from 2001-03. Daphna Nachminovitch, director of PETA's domestic animal and wildlife department, said she didn't know how many were from North Carolina.

"Did we euthanize some animals who could have been adopted? Maybe," Nachminovitch said. "The point is that good homes are few and far between. Our aim here was to stop them from dying an agonizing death."

PETA said it offered to take stray animals and euthanize them by fast-acting injection because it considers that more humane than gassing or shooting them.

So, PETA has no problem killing thousands of animals that come into the organization because it's easier than finding them homes, but wants the NFL to sack Michael Vick on the basis of an indictment alone. Hypocrites.