Center for Consumer Freedom

A columnist at the Baltimore Sun offers an ironic take on the relationship between disgraced felon Michael Vick and the animal rights radicals at the so-called Humane Society of the United States, identifying it as one of “dog and master.” She writes:

Mr. Vick is now on a leash held by the Humane Society's Wayne Pacelle. Mr. Vick has to make any number of appearances on behalf of the society, confessing to the error of his ways. "If Mike disappoints us, the public is going to see that," Mr. Pacelle told Mr. Brown on the same "60 Minutes" broadcast.

Mr. Pacelle must be loving this. Mr. Vick's head is on a pike at the city gate as a warning to any who would dare fight dogs, while the Humane Society gets untold millions in free publicity, and probably a healthy amount in donations, too.

We can only hope those donations go toward finding homes for animals and not toward an anti-meat, anti-hunting political agenda. (Louisiana shelters have reason to question HSUS's intentions. Not to mention the state’s attorney general.)

You might remember that HSUS originally started fundraising in the wake of news of Vick’s actions. And as we reported, even though HSUS promised on its website that financial contributions would be earmarked for helping it “care for the dogs seized in the Michael Vick case,” The New York Times reported that HSUS was not, in fact, caring for the animals. In fact, Wayne Pacelle suggested that the animals be “put down” (most are now living happily in real shelters).

So HSUS was able to make money off of Vick twice. But will the animal-rights radicals put their fundraising toward spending more than 4 percent of its annual budget on animal shelters? We have our doubts.