Dog Fighting

Your head says Michael Vick has served his time, has suffered some punishment for his horrific involvement in a dogfighting ring and that people who have committed more serious crimes are allowed to leave prison and go back to work.

The video images were disturbing -- a tiny white kitten singed with the flame from a lighter; a gray cat struggling beneath a woman's spiked heel; pit bulls tearing into a trapped animal. The Supreme Court has often said that freedom of speech includes ugly and foul language. But this fall the justices will be looking at video clips like these to decide whether selling films of dogfights or animal torture is protected from prosecution under the 1st Amendment. The dispute, expected to be heard in early October, has driven a wedge between traditional free-speech advocates and defenders of the humane treatment of animals.

Is Michael Vick one step closer to an NFL return? A league spokesman declined to comment Thursday on reports that the disgraced quarterback met Wednesday afternoon with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss coming back to football after serving a 20-month federal sentence for dogfighting that ended this week. "We've been consistent in saying we're not going to comment on the details of the review process," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said.

Authorities on Wednesday raided a dogfighting operation that was being run out of a suburban Chicago day-care facility, arresting three people and seizing nine dogs that required surgery, authorities said. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said children "were playing on a swing set just 10 feet away from a vicious fighting dog and blood-stained floors. . . . To be engaged in this sort of activity is disturbing enough, but to take a chance with anybody's children is reprehensible." Dart said one dog was missing an eye and another had had its genitals nearly severed.

A suspected dog-fighting operation has been broken up, San Diego County animal services officials said Thursday. Ten pit bull terriers believed used in fighting were seized in a raid after officials received a tip from a citizen. Some dogs were chained, others were entangled around stakes and many had scars on their faces and legs. The property owner was not home when search warrants were served. The dogs were taken to a shelter in Carlsbad and information turned over to the district attorney's office for possible criminal charges.

For Tim Racer and Donna Reynolds, the dog rescues started with an open-door policy. Cruising around Chicago on winter nights, they pulled up beside bedraggled strays and swung open the car door. If the animal didn't skitter away, if it wasn't too beaten down to contemplate jumping inside, they figured, there was a chance to save it. Often, their hearts got the best of them. They bolted from the car and chased down dogs of all shapes and sizes.

The Los Angeles Police Department on Wednesday announced that a 41-year-old South Los Angeles man has been arrested and charged with possessing 17 fighting dogs and dog-fighting paraphernalia. Walter Citizen, 41, was arrested in April and is in Men's Central Jail awaiting a court date next week. He has been charged with 10 felony counts related to dog fighting. Meanwhile, police said they are searching for an accomplice, Arnett Counts, 40.

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was at a dog fight in 2000 and is "one of the heavyweights" in the sport, ESPN reported. The network Sunday cited a police informant whom a dog-fighting investigator called "extremely reliable." "That's who bets a large dollar," the informant said on the show "Outside the Lines." "And they have the money to bet large money. As I'm talking about large money, 30 to 40 thousand, even higher. He's one of the heavyweights."

The NFL has its latest -- and unquestionably biggest -- fallen star: Michael Vick. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback -- the league's second-highest paid player -- on Tuesday was indicted by a federal grand jury on multiple charges related to illegal dogfighting. Vick, 27, and three others are accused of violating federal laws against staging dogfights, gambling and engaging in unlawful activities across state lines.

Mercy, this looks bad. Real bad. Tuesday's felony indictment of Michael Vick and three cronies oozes details that infuriate, baffle and sicken. But are they true? Is Vick as stupid, calculating and cruel as the Feds allege? Has he been neck-deep in dog-fighting since joining the NFL in 2001? Did he witness and condone executions of his own pit bulls? Moreover, what transpires in the considerable lag time between indictment and judgment? Does the league intervene?