Dog Advocacy Group Raising Funds To Buy Michael Vick's Former Real Estate

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Feb 9th 2011 at 11:01PM

Once again, a dog-advocacy group is interested in buying up Philadelphia quarterback Michael Vick's former real estate. A few years ago the infamous property in Norfolk, Virginia where Vick had his Bad Newsz dog kennels was sold by Vick to an investor for $450,000. In 2008 it was put up for auction but real estate developer Wilbur Ray Todd Jr. rejected a final bid of $747,000 (the appraised value at that time). He later sold the property. Vick served 21 months in prison for his role in the dog fighting ring before returning to the NFL.

Now a new group, Dogs Deserve Better has stepped forward looking to purchase the house and 15 acres of land. The home is currently listed for $595,000, dramatically lower than the $1.1 million it was at in 2008. The property has been cleared of the kennels and fences. The main house has two master suites, a media room and a two-car garage. Vick paid $34,000 for the 15 acres of land in 2002 and built the house.

So far Dogs Deserve Better has raised more than $50,000. The organization has pledged that all donations of $1000 or more will receive special recognition on a wall mounted plaque inside the facility. A Facebook campaign seeks to raise $999,999 in 45 days to buy the property and convert it into a dog sanctuary to train rescued dogs to live indoors with people and families.

Tags: dogs deserve better, Michael Vick