Animal Fighting Case Study: Michael Vick

Animal Cruelty is a subject that spreads far across the United States and into most civilized cultures. Animal cruelty can either be in the form of intentional abuse, simple neglect, or abandonment of animals.  Whatever forms the abuse takes, however, the animal that is the victim of the abuse is often helpless and may experience extreme suffering. Animal right activist feel if you don’t know how to take care or treat an animal it can be as deadly as physical abuse to care for one.

Many people do not report cases of animal cruelty. Reports of animal cruelty are less common than crimes against people. This is because the cases do not go through state agencies. The animals that come to mind when someone mentions animal cruelty is often Dogs and cats. These animals do have a higher percent rate, with dogs at 70.1%, cats at 20.9% and all other animals at 24.1%. The percent’s come from cases that people report. If people were to fill all cases of animal cruelty, the rates would be much more different. A common form of negligence is people taking their animal to a place far from home to just leave them there. Animal control pick up these animals everyday and send them to shelter. For the most part the animals have a healthy portion of food and they have shelter from the environment. Most shelters are kill shelters. No-Kill shelters become less common to their counterpart. Animals not adopted within a certain period of time undergo euthanasia. This keeps room for more animals. No-kill shelters protect the animals and help rehabilitate them. The other 24.1% is the factory animals. The purpose of a factory animal's life is a food source. So the owners mistreat their animals because the animals purpose is to be a food source. It is almost as if they do not matter. They deserve animal rights just as much as the other animals do.

However, Michael Vick deserves to get more punishment than he was punished before. Even though he is not the only one who operated dog fighting, but because of starting the dog fighting, it has been brought about some problems in community which it start to spread out world widely even nowadays As the time pass, the dog fighting has been banned in law, but people constantly to visit playing dog fighting and trained the dog to participate in that gameness. From Vick work on the dog fighting, it gave very bad influence in society and especially to children. As children grow up, they got exposed to dog fighting and more than twenty-five percentage of the student in sixth grade had watched dog fighting at least once in their life. Michael Vick and dog fighting relevant got less punishment compare to how they badly affect in society and to children. He promoted a dog fighting match in Virginia first time; he began to transport dogs to other province to spread the dog fighting. By spreading in other state, it began to cause many problems. Dogs from dog fighting are dangerous to human and those dogs are against human because they are violent and want to fight to win. Pit bulls from trained in dog fighting are not allowed to run around in the street, it can hurt innocent people. Vick was the one of the assailant who made pit

Animals are beaten and abused on a daily basis due to barbaric individuals. Whether it be from harmful intentions or pure negligence most cases go unreported. “Deliberate cruelty may involve beating, shooting, stabbing animals, or setting them on fire. Neglect is not giving a necessary food, water, shelter, or vet care” (Human Society). The lack of attention and care for these animals can often lead to severe, and sometimes irrevocable damage. The Animal Legal Defense Fund, ALDF for short, website tells of one story where neighbors of a farm complained to the local humane society, “that the Colliers were neglecting many animals on their farm, including dogs and horses. When they went to their property to investigate, they discovered dogs and horses in several states of neglect and starvation and seized them out of concern for their immediate health”(ALDF). Sadly, however, it can become much worse for animals. Owners will sometimes purposefully abuse their animals. Unfortunately, occurrences like these are hardly uncommon. One such example, from the RSPCA of England, the Royal

1. ATTENTION GETTER: Millions of animals are abused each year. Over a million of these animals are abused or killed just due to the involvement with domestic violence. Despite animal cruelty being a felony which can result in jail time for over 15 years and 500,000 dollars in fines, it is still an issue which occurs on a daily basis across the United States. It is important for these animals to not go unnoticed, which can be achieved if society became more enlightened and educated on the topic of animal cruelty. (Pacelle, 2011).

Athlete’s controversy can be devastating for them as player and have a big impact on the fans. It really depends on what happened in the situation, and also how the athlete goes about things. Michael Vick is an NFL quarterback, played for the Atlanta Falcons. He changed the game for a quarterback prior to an incident that he was involved in. He had so much controversy surrounding the dogfighting ring that he had at his house back in 2007.

This article talks about Miicheal Vick and how he fought dogs. It tries to inform people that this is wrong and you shouldn't abuse animals for monetary gain of any sort.. It also shows that animal abuse is a crime that anyone can commit, even celebrities that we look up to. it also points out that this is a widespread problem across our nation. It also goes over how much money he bet on these dogs, where it was held, and how it went down. It details how authorities were able to figure out what was going on and finally bust him. lastly it goes over his court cases and hearings.

“It is quite clear that in abusing animals we abuse our relationship with animals, and that we abuse ourselves. We become less human to the extent that we treat any living beings as things” (R.D. Laing). There is a very evident connection between animal cruelty and cruelty to other humans. In studies conducted between 1983 and 2004, 60% of children who met the criteria for child abuse/neglect had families that were cruel to their pets. In 88%

In today's world there is an underground layer. “By our estimate, there are tens of thousands of dog fighters in the U.S., forcing hundreds of thousands of dogs to train..”(Dog Fighting). Dog fighting, is said to be an underreported and poorly enforcement crime. In terms is understood why it's hard to be defeated. When the dog fights happen they are in places abandoned. Plus easy get away spots, just in case of a raid. When a place is raided and people are caught they are taken to jail. Then they discuss the bases of what they have to serve. Most people that are charged with dogfighting get out in about two to five years. Then two to three years of probation with no ownership of dogs. This should be changed, some people go right back into dogfighting. People convicted for dogfighting should go through something like sex a fenders go through. Have a yearly check up with someone of the law.

Every 60 seconds an animal is abused. Dogs, cats, horses, and many other types of animals are being neglected and tortured everyday, yet resulting in few and minor consequences for the perpetrators. Animal abuse is prevalent in the United States and has been an ongoing issue since the 1970's, and prior to. Society as a whole has chosen to avoid the facts and arguments about animal cruelty, because to some it is seen as acceptable and typical. It becomes much more frowned upon when people actually see the results of the cruelty, especially in the media.

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently” (“The 16 Best…”). This quote by Warren Buffet is relatable to many public relations crises. Unfortunately, many individuals are unaware of the long lasting effects of their actions. As a result, an individual’s reputation can be ruined very quickly. If the individual is lucky, the damage to their reputation is not permanent. One man in the midst of repairing his own reputation is Michael Vick. This paper will discuss the details of the Michael Vick dog fighting scandal, how it relates to crisis management, and the overall message this case relays to public relations professionals.

Over the centuries, animals have suffered from cruelty from humans. In the United States, animals are beaten, neglected, or forced to struggle for survival. Animals have been inflicted with pain from humans for reasons other than self-defense. They have been slaughtered for their food and fur for personal gain in profit. In a majority of cases they have even been abused for someone’s own personal amusement or out of rage filled impulses. In some cases animals are found and rescued. They are given the second chance in life to experience what life should be like compared to what they once had.

Animals are a big part of many people’s lives. They provide companionship; they provide daily assistance to those that have deficits and are having difficulty functioning in their daily life; they provide security and help keep a watchful eye on things, plus so much more. And yet, with all that animals do for us, there are those that are treated with such little regard, care, and cruelty. They are unable to speak for themselves and therefore, they need a voice to speak for them.

Dog fighting is a very cruel thing, and it is happening right under our noses. It is illegal to fight a dog in all fifty states. By being an observer at a dog fight, it is against the law in forty-seven states. So why do people continue this cruel practice? The answer seems to be money. Some people who breed dogs for fighting can sell their puppies for up to two thousand dollars. Even though fighting dogs is making money, it is cruel since pain is inflicted on the dogs; the ASPCA and the Humane Society are trying to prevent this with proper training.

In the last decade, the views and forms of animal cruelty have changed. Many people have different views of an animal’s rights or purpose. Some people believe that animals have no rights and are a piece of property to be utilized by humans. To others, animals can still be used by humans, but they have emotions as well. A few people consider that only certain animals with high intelligence like chimpanzees or monkeys, should not be used by man, and they should have all the rights that man has currently (“Animal Rights” , 2009). Domestic violence has a correlation with animal abuse. In a survey, 71% of domestic violence victims also reported that their abuser also targeted pets/animals. The most common animals who are abused are cats, dogs, horses,