Vick: It’s not just a “pit bull” thing, or even a dog thing. It’s a humanity thing.

Guest Post: Miranda is a Community Outreach Coordinator for Indy Pit Crew, and a foster parent and the Adoption Coordinator for Mended Hearts Indy. She owns 5 pit bulls, all rescues.

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Let’s put aside the dog fighting in itself, and focus on the bigger picture. Michael Vick and his associates, admittedly, horrifically tortured dogs before killing them. Not because they had hurt him or his family but because they did not show the desire to fight, or did not win in a fight that he put them in.

These dogs were beaten, shot, hung, electrocuted, drowned and set on fire. Acts like these done to a human would likely result in a life in prison sentence, or in states that support it, the death penalty.

Michael Vick and his associates did not have to kill these dogs, they chose to do so. That aside, rather than swiftly ending the animal’s life, they chose to torture these defenseless animals, seemingly for their own entertainment. These acts were premeditated and “creative” if you will, from one killing to the next.

Someone who has the capability to fathom and execute such graphic and extensive means to take a life is not a mentally stable person.

Some people argue “they’re just dogs,” and “I just can’t equate animal abuse to child abuse.” These dogs were innocent victims. They didn’t choose to be owned by Michael Vick and his associates. They didn’t choose to fight for their lives in a ring. They had no options, much like children have no options at the hands of those responsible for them. Animals and children are almost completely defenseless and are almost solely dependent on their caretakers.

Some people take issue with the reluctance to forgive and forget what Michael Vick did to his animals. Some of those people don’t understand the depth and gravity of the situation, and equate the crimes to being “heinous, but not comparable to crimes against humans” or have the stance of “it’s time to let it go”.

Knowing the details of how these dogs were murdered, and caring for the physical and often deeper emotional scars dogs rescued from similar situations have, makes it impossible to let it go. These animals don’t have voices and aren’t able to describe the pain they have suffered at the hands of Michael Vick and people who follow in his footsteps. We have to do it for them. For these animals, and those who work tirelessly to educate against cruelty and nurse victims of abuse back to health, we don’t have the option of letting it go.

Sachi’s Photo Shoot

Our friend Ryne came over to take some photos of Sachi for her Petfinder profile.

I can’t believe this is the same dog that came to me so emaciated she was unable to walk, covered in fleas and blood. I’m so proud of her for pulling through and keeping her sweet disposition despite the neglect she suffered at the hands of her former owners.

See more photos here.

Sachi Update

It’s been a little over a month since we took an emergency foster from Indianapolis Animal Care and Control. We originally called her Sasha Fierce, as she would need a lot of “survivor” strength to get well, but her name has slowly morphed into Sachi.

The other day, Aaron googled it to find out it meant “child of joy”. It’s quite fitting.

Sachi has gained 20lbs since June 18 when she was confiscated and brought to IACC. She looks fantastic. Our vet thinks she should gain about 5 more pounds and then she can be spayed. She’s currently fighting a skin infection that is a result of being completely covered in fleas when she was found. She’s expected to make a full recovery.

Sachi has turned out to be a very driven dog. She’s not going to be able to live in a home with cats or other small pets, as she gets too excited and acts inappropriately. However, we’ve been teaching her important commands such as “wait” and “leave it” and we hope a program of desensitization will help her ignore the cats. Then… maybe she’ll get to experience the joy of sleeping upstairs with mom and dad. Currently, she’s too obsessed with the cats in the other room to settle down and sleep!

She is a very sweet, very loving, very SMART dog. She figured out quickly that the kitchen is where the food comes from, and loves to hang out in there while dinner is being prepped. She’s made no effort to escape our yard, has only had a single accident in the house (my fault!) and isn’t destructive AT ALL. She spends a lot of time quietly in her room, and is just a joy to have around. I love the little click of her nails on the hardwood as she prances around the house.

The only unfortunate fallout from this foster is that we’ve surrendered our other foster, Maxwell, to the Humane Society of Indianapolis. We were managing with crating and rotating the 4 dogs, 2 cats and rabbit… but poor Max was just not getting enough attention. We’ve been visiting him every day, and our friends (employees and volunteers) have been taking extra special care of him. We have a couple of interested people so hopefully he’ll be adopted in a heartbeat.

Animal Cruelty Takes Many Forms

One of Indy Pit Crew’s main missions is to “prevent cruelty”. We educate people about dog fighting in the community – how to spot it, encourage them to report it, etc. We also teach people how to care for their pets properly through basic vet care, spay/neuter, socialization, training.

Academically, I know that people abuse and neglect their dogs. A few months ago, the story of Courage, a starved German Shepherd rescued in Orange County, California, shocked animal lovers across the country.

Knowing abuse happens, and KNOWING about abuse are two different things. Sunday, my world tilted on its head when I accepted an emergency foster from Animal Care and Control.

This is the dog that we picked up. She is most likely a 2 year old pit bull mix. She weighs 22lbs.

She’s so emaciated, she can’t really walk. She looks like a baby deer with each leg going a different direction. We gave her a bath and the water ran brown with dried blood and flea excrement. She’s a sweet girl – even in her terrible state, she rolled over so my husband can pet her belly.

We’ve named her Sasha Fierce. She’s a survivor.

Sasha’s condition screams to me that starving her was intentional. Dogs will eat whatever garbage they can find when they are hungry, and they will get skinny but not skeletal. Her severe emaciation says to me that she was confined and was unable to scavenge. She also knows the commands Sit and Shake, and is basically housebroken. THIS DOG WAS SOMEONE’S PET. AND THEY STARVED HER.

I know I’ll have tons more to say about Sasha as she progresses, but suffice to say, I am PISSED. I’m trying hard to stay focused on the positive – she’s safe now. I just can’t fathom how someone can do this to a helpless animal.