3 Pitbulls Move to Gwinnett

Three of Vick's dogs arriving at Suwanee shelter

By SANDRA ECKSTEIN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/21/07

Three of Michael Vick's pit bulls begin the rest of their lives Friday.

The three dogs, two males and a female, were picked up at three different shelters in Virginia and Washington, D.C., on Thursday. They rode for more than 12 hours to get to a Suwanee shelter, and were due to arrive early Friday morning.

"The female and one of the males will have to be fixed before they can go to the foster homes we have lined up for them," said Joan Sammond, executive director of the Georgia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the rescue group that agreed to take in three of the surviving 47 dogs seized from Vick's Virginia home in June. "The other male can go into foster care right away."

The group received the dogs after the U.S. district judge handling the case approved a recommendation from a guardian appointed to evaluate and find placement for the former fighting dogs.

Some of the dogs were deemed unadoptable, and those went to long-term sanctuaries. Others were found to be highly adoptable, and others were marked as questionable, but might be adoptable with training. The Georgia SPCA took in two highly adoptable dogs and one listed as questionable, although Sammond said she's confident that with training that dog also will find a home.

Sammond said since word got out that her organization was receiving several dogs involved in the Falcons quarterback's dogfighting ring, a number of people have contacted the shelter seeking to adopt them. But she said it won't work that way.

"We don't want people who are looking for a Vick dog. We want people who want to adopt a dog," Sammond said. "If they come in and fall in love with a dog and pass the screening process and they're approved and then they adopt the dog, and it happens to be one of Vick's dogs, then we'll tell them it's a Vick dog at that point.

"But not before. We want people to adopt them because they want a pet."

The adoption fee at the rescue is $250, and the animals come spayed or neutered, have all their shots, are wormed, health-tested and are on flea and heartworm preventative and are microchipped.

Vick relinquished custody of the dogs after his Virginia dogfighting operation was raided. He pleaded guilty Aug. 27 to a federal dogfighting conspiracy charge and was sentenced Dec. 10 to 23 months in prison.

Vick also was ordered to pay for the evaluation, boarding and care of his former dogs. He deposited $928,073.04 into an escrow account on their behalf. Some of that money went to rescue groups that agreed to take in one or more of the dogs.

Each group taking a highly adoptable dog received $5,000 per dog, and those dogs deemed needing more long-term or permanent care came with $20,000.

The dogs that arrived in Georgia on Friday morning will receive training while in foster care, then be placed for adoption when ready. Sammond said she knew taking in Vick dogs would bring her group some notoriety, and she said while they wanted to help the pit bulls, they also wanted the pit bulls to help them.

And that's already happening, she said.

"A lot of people had never heard of us, but with the publicity we've gotten more recognition and, because of that, we've gotten more dogs adopted," she said. "So we're helping these dogs, and they're already helping other dogs."

For more information on the Georgia SPCA, go to www.georgiaspca.org or call 678-765-2726.