Vick jerseys going to the dogs

Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 2:37 pm by Neal

(Hat tip: tejay)

At Atlanta shelter, Vick jerseys are going to the dogs:

When the bright red jerseys with the bold No. 7 started arriving in the mail, staffers at the Atlanta Humane Society were a bit surprised.

Today, however, about a dozen Atlanta Falcons football jerseys bearing the name and number of quarterback Michael Vick have been put to good use — as animal bedding or, even more likely, rags to scrub up the mess that dogs leave behind.

“Kind of appropriate,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, of the jerseys that have been mailed to the shelter since Vick was indicted last month on federal dogfighting charges .

On Monday, Vick’s lawyer said his client plans to plead guilty in the case next week. The charges include claims that he backed a dogfighting operation run from a farm he owns in Virginia, gambled thousands of dollars on bloody fights and took part in shooting, hanging, drowning or electrocuting dogs that lost fights or didn’t show enough aggressive spirit.

Atlanta Humane Society spokeswoman P.J. Smith said many of the jerseys were accompanied with financial contributions to the society and letters of outrage over the charges. …

For Rocky, a brown Labrador retriever mix waiting at the Atlanta Humane Society for a permanent home, one of the jerseys was being used to line his bed Monday.

“It’s his security blanket,” said P.J. Smith, a spokeswoman for the Humane Society chapter. “He’s still a puppy and he’s grown quite attached to it.”

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