More of Vick's fighting dogs at Utah rescue

Another 22 of Michael Vick's Pit Bulls now reside at a no-kill shelter and animal behavior compound in the mountains of Kanab, Utah. They've been there only ten days but are already showing signs of improvement.

Best Friends Animal Society, Kanab, Utah.

Lucas, Vick's top fighter, is there and will remain there, at Best Friends Animal Society, for the rest of his life. As affectionate and people-friendly as he is, a judge ruled he can never be adopted because of his past.

Lucas

The dogs were not neutered when in Vick's "care." The females were bred, especially if they were good fighters - a valued trait at Bad Newz Kennels, obviously. One unfortunate female named Georgia had all of her teeth pulled, possibly to prevent her harming males being forced on her to breed. I guess that was easier than trying to muzzle her, eh?

Some of the dogs will never go to homes. Some will never be able to associate with other dogs. But at least they will live their lives in a place where they'll be loved, regardless their past or their training.

Here is a video from CNN on a few of the dogs (I warn you that there is a clip of a dog fight in the middle of it - it's grainy and pale so it's instantly recognizable, and there is no sound to it, so it's easy to look away [as I must] while it plays for about 10 seconds). You can also peruse some pretty eye-0pening information about Pit Bulls at Best Friends Animal Society.

As for whether the rescued Pit Bulls can ever be good house pets, the good people at Best Friends are optimistic but realistic:

We’ve worked with bully breeds and dog-aggressive dogs for many years. And we’ve had very good success in rehabilitating many who have been as severely abused as these have. So we’re quite confident that in recovering their trust and then teaching them new life skills, many of them can be adoptable, given the right home environment. We’ll see how it goes, and take each one on a case-by-case basis, but our trainers are already making breakthroughs in just the few weeks the dogs have been here. It’s really amazing to watch them working together.

I still maintain that they're dogs and dogs want to be good. I also still maintain that Vick got off easy. Why do people do bad things to animals when it's so easy to do good things with them?

And again, I'd like to encourage my friends and readers to donate to your local Humane Society, local animal shelter, or any of the organizations I've written about in my blog. Remember that money isn't the only donation possible. I'll be buying all new bath towels soon and all of the old ones will be finding their new home at Wayside Waifs here in Kansas City.

And please, be kind to animals.

Update from Best Friends:

I received an email from the Animal Society in Kanab, and inside it was a great link with an overview of the Pit Bull "breed." It's great reading if you're interested in knowing about the various bully breeds and why they have the bad reputation they do.

Read here at Pit Bull Rescue Central.