Dogs Deserve Better, an animal rights group from Tipton, Pa., bought quarterback Michael Vick's former Virginia home last Friday, and the group plans to transform it into a rehabilitation center for dogs.
"I think by us overtaking this property we are winning for the dogs," Tamira Thayne, the organization's founder, told The Associated Press. "We are, in essence, giving this property back to the dogs that were abused there by using it to help other dogs just like them."
Dogs Deserve Better purchased the house, which was previously the site of Vick's "Bad News Kennels" dogfighting operation, for approximately $600,000. The 2010 NFL Comeback Player of the Year owned the five-bedroom home until 2007, when he was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to dogfighting charges. He began working with the Humane Society of the United States soon after his release to try to stop organized animal fighting.
Thayne, though, says she doesn't think his efforts have been sincere.
"I would like to see that he's really remorseful, and I personally don't feel that I've seen that because actions speak louder than words. I haven't seen him really put effort into making amends," she said.
