SMITHFIELD, Va. (AP) – The black two-story shed still stands out back at 1915 Moonlight Road – a haunting reminder of the brutal dog fights that took place upstairs when NFL quarterback Michael Vick owned the place.
A few steps away, a dog infirmary with eight grimy stalls sits empty in the suffocating heat of an early-summer day. Sick or injured dogs now are nursed to health in the air-conditioned comfort of the property’s five-bedroom, 4,600-square-foot home.
The ghostly relics of the former Bad Newz Kennels have been retained because the current owner of the 15-acre compound, the anti-chaining organization Dogs Deserve Better Inc., wants to keep people aware of animal cruelty now that public attention to the 2007 dogfighting case that landed Vick in prison has faded. The star quarterback served an 18-month federal prison sentence for running a dogfighting ring.
“We want them to see that this is what dogs go through,” said Kenny Sayre, chairman of the Dogs Deserve Better board of directors. “We don’t want people to forget.”
Some things have changed on the property, however. The metal poles and heavy chains that once restrained Vick’s pit bulls are gone. The full-size backyard basketball court has been replaced by fenced dog runs. And many of the trees that once obscured aerial views of the dogfighting operation have been cleared out, providing an expansive, grassy playground for the able-bodied among the 13 to 17 dogs typically residing there.