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In China, Michael Vick’s career goes to the dogs
Chinese have showed little sympathy for Michael Vick, the Atlanta Falcons’ star quarterback who agreed to plead guilty to dog fighting charges in a deal that will probably land him in prison.
“I don’t think Michael Vick’s much of a star since he’s so barbaric,” said Li Di, the director of a small non-profit association supporting animal welfare in Beijing. “The case is a shame for Americans.”
The reaction is a sign of the times. When I first arrived in China in 1996, pet dogs were rare and dog meat was commonly served in many parts of China.
Today, few restaurants serve dog (and a few cater to pets). As Chinese have gotten richer and traditional family structures have splintered — resulting in more lonely urbanites — the number of pet dogs has surged.
Most of my neighbors keep a couple Pekingese or dachshunds. One of my neighbors has a white poodle she’s trimmed to display the Olympic rings, a tribute to Beijing’s hosting the Summer Games next year.
After news on Monday that Vick had agreed to plead guilty to the felony charges including conspiring to sponsor a dog in an animal fight, many Chinese reacted angrily.
“I hate cruelty to animals, so I hope (Vick) gets a good scolding,” someone using the screen name Tina posted on the NFL’s Chinese language Web site.
“Regardless of whether it’s against the law to fight dogs, it’s certainly strange and maybe even abnormal,” a person posting on sina.com, one of China’s most popular Web sites, wrote.
Comments
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By WTF!!
August 22, 2007 11:27 AM | Link to this
Who cares what the dog eating Chinese folks think!!!!!! They should be more concerned with their lead-ladened toys, and poor food packaging/manufacturing!!!
But of course, ajc couldn’t resist another opportunity to slam Vick!! Get a life people!! And if you want something to be outraged over………..START WITH THE CROOKED AZZ POLITICIANS WHO ARE RUNNING OUR COUNTRY INTO THE GROUND!!!!!!!!
By think about it
August 22, 2007 3:19 PM | Link to this
What the Hell will ajc do when this story is over.
By CMS
August 22, 2007 3:40 PM | Link to this
What the Hell will ajc do when this story is over?
Post more dog/animal loving stories that mean absolutely nothing.
By who cares
August 31, 2007 1:13 PM | Link to this
The crooked politicians are the ones running the media. And unless we get the crooked people off the streets, we will keep electing crooked politicians-like McKinney!