Michael Vick Conditionally Reinstated to NFL

Red, one of Vick's former fighting dogs, has been rehabilitated. See more of the rescued dogs >>

On Monday, the National Football League conditionally reinstated quarterback Michael Vick, who was suspended indefinitely from the league in August 2007 after being convicted for his role in an illegal dogfighting operation. He completed his 23-month prison sentence last week.
 
Vick, who was released from his $130-million contract with the Atlanta Falcons in June, is now eligible to sign with another NFL team, join its training camp and play in its last two preseason games.
 
However, Roger Goodell, commissioner of the NFL, has not yet determined when Vick will be allowed to return to regular-season games. Goodell is not expected to make a decision until mid-October, during the sixth week of the regular season, which means Vick will miss at least five games.
 
In a letter to Vick, Goodell said his decision in October "will be based on reports from outside professionals, your probation officer, and others charged with supervising your activities, the quality of your work outside football, the absence of any further adverse involvement in law enforcement, and other concrete actions that you take that are consistent with your representations to me."
 
"I accept that you are sincere when you say that you want to, and will, turn your life around, and that you intend to be a positive role model for others," Goodell says in the letter.
 
One of the conditions of Vick’s reinstatement is to work with the Humane Society of the United States’ anti-dogfighting campaign. Tony Dungy, former coach of the Indianapolis Colts, will serve as Vick’s mentor during his transition period.
 
Vick was arrested in on April 25, 2007, after authorities discovered evidence of his Bad Newz Kennels dogfighting operation, including dog-burial sites and dogfighting paraphernalia, at his home in Surry County, Va. Sixty-six dogs, mostly pit bulls, were seized and placed in animal-control shelters.
 
Vick served 18 months in a federal penitentiary and another two in home confinement. The judge presiding over the case commuted three months of the sentence. Vick began serving three years of probation last week.

For more on the Michael Vick dogfighting case, click here.

Kristopher Wardwell is the managing editor of Dog World magazine.