Dear Members and Friends,
We call them the Vicktory dogs.
They’re the 22 dogs, rescued from ex-football star Michael Vick’s infamous Bad Newz Kennels, who are now living at Best Friends. And as of today, when the final court proceedings were concluded, we can begin to introduce you to these dogs.
Bottom line: they’re very different from anything you may have imagined or have been led to believe –even by other national animal organizations. Most are quite timid, many have clearly been abused, some have been forcibly bred many times over, others have apparently been used as bait dogs. There are certainly some champion fighters among them, but even these are very different from some Hound of the Baskervilles image of a snarling dog trying to attack everything and everyone in sight.
And that’s the thing about dogs like these – they’re so eager to please, so responsive to people, that all these good character traits have been used against them. (Remember that only a generation or two ago, pit bulls were renowned as “America’s family dog.”)
We’ve posted an initial report about them today. And we’ll be starting to tell their stories in more detail on Monday, when we’re also welcoming TV and news reporters to the sanctuary to meet the dogs in person for the first time and to publish the first photos and videos of them.
On Monday, we’ll also be starting a new blog, where you can follow the progress of the Vicktory dogs, along with links to pages on the Best Friends Network where you can learn more about how Best Friends is working to end the billion-dollar dog-fighting industry and help the millions of cast-off dogs who end up in shelters that have no means of caring for them.
Have a good weekend, and watch for a further e-mail on Monday with details of our coverage of the Vicktory dogs.
Michael Mountain
Best Friends
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