At first, when PETA offered Michael Vick a chance to star in a PSA against dog fighting, he jumped at the opportunity, probably hoping it would help clear his name.
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But now, PETA is having second thoughts — saying they want him to take psychological tests and receive an MRI to show he’s physically capable of having compassion for animals — party because of Vick’s performance in a handwritten test on animal empathy. Of course, they’ve kindly released his answers to the public.
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Some are downright hilarious (“Chickens have an uncanny ability to think and are very agile. They are very athletic to me.”) while others actually make me feel bad for the guy (“Practice what you preech + don’t condone in hyp.”).
Based on the test alone, it’s unclear whether Vick actually is “reformed,” so I don’t blame PETA for holding off on the PSA deal. His answers sound much like a 6th grade student rephrasing sentences from a text book for a take-home essay. He’s just saying what they wanted to hear.
Vick already has a universal bad rap — dog fighting isn’t a controversial topic, it’s already been decided to be unethical by the vast majority of society. There’s really no reason for PETA to even try to help him as he’s the only one who would benefit from this situation.
What do you think? Should PETA even bother fighting this battle? Check out the rest of the test here (pdf).
Alex is primarily concerned with animal welfare, wildlife conservation, and environmental justice. As a freelance writer in San Francisco, he leads a deliberately simplistic and thrifty lifestyle, yet still can’t help gawking at the newest green gadgets and zero-emission concept cars.
