Humane Society

Maybe 11 weeks away from work has made me soft, but I don't see why everyone is dissecting every word Michael Vick says. Is he sorry, really sorry , he executed those dogs, people want to know, and if he is, why isn't he communicating that better? Why doesn't he just say, "Man, I have nightmares about those little puppies, and I'm so sorry I bludgeoned them to death. " Take yesterday, for example. Vick spoke to about 200 freshmen at a Hunting Park high school in a joint appearance with the head of the Humane Society of the United States.

The last time New Jersey allowed the hunting of black bears, the state was home to fewer than 50 of the furry creatures. They were scattered close to the Pennsylvania and New York borders, in a four-county area with a human population of one million. That was in 1971. More than a quarter-century later, the region has 10 times as many bears and 15 percent more people. Some of those people say it may be time to get out the guns again. The state Fish and Game Council, which can authorize a black-bear hunt, will meet March 27 to consider the issue.

The flagship store of the Burlington Coat Factory was the center of unwanted attention yesterday. Ten protesters from the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade and other animal-rights groups gathered outside the 75,000-square-foot store to demonstrate against the fur trade. The protesters, most in their late teens or early 20s, held placards showing mutilated animals as traffic roared by on Route 130. Every few minutes, a motorist honked in support. The protesters assembled about noon on the narrow strip of grass between the store and the road.

In Camden, a dog is set afire as a crowd watches. It is injured so badly its eyes are literally burned out of its head before an animal-welfare agent arrives and takes it off to be humanely destroyed. In Bucks County, a serial cat-killer stalks neighborhood pets. In Northeast Philadelphia, someone poisons stray cats living near an apartment complex. In North Philadelphia, a pit bull loses a fight and is hanged. Are these examples of a society entering an age of savagery?

Owners of animals seized by police or the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals are entitled to a hearing before their pets are destroyed, the state Superior Court has ruled. The court said that 23 roosters seized as fighting cocks in 1987 should not have been destroyed for humane purposes until the owner was permitted to challenge "the necessity of the destruction. " Once a pet is destroyed, Judge Frank J. Montemuro said in an opinion handed down last week, filing a civil suit in protest wouldn't mean much to the owner.

WAKE-UP CALL COMES IN THE FORM OF A HISS Lisa Billingsley of Colorado Springs was awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of a hiss. Whereupon she told her companion that there was something on the floor. Whereupon Eddie Donald turned on the light, looked down and turned the light back off. He'd seen the something-on-the-floor and realized that it was a snake. Eighteen feet long, as it turned out. "I didn't even tell her what it was," Donald said. "I just said, 'We've got to get out of here.

The Chester County SPCA is again searching for a new leader, even though former shelter director Kathy Bena took the position only in February. Bena, 37, was asked to resign on Sept. 22, according to SPCA president Jay Fischer, a Downingtown lawyer. SPCA board member Jo Ann Mauger is interim shelter manager. Fischer said that traditionally, shelter managers have risen through the ranks of shelter workers. But in choosing Bena, he said, "There was a tendency on a lot of people to rely too heavily on academic qualifications.

Abuse of animals by any member of a family may be a clue that child abuse also is occurring in the household, according to a new pamphlet issued by the National Association for the Advancement of Humane Education, a division of the Humane Society of the United States. It may be the child victim who is abusing the animal, or it may be someone else in the household. In the pamphlet, titled "The Cycle of Abuse," the Humane Society urges teachers, parents, judges, counselors, veterinarians and others to take seriously children's accounts of animal abuse.

Twenty-two dogs rescued from Michael Vick's dogfighting operation were brought to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary last year. They arrived at our Utah facility in various states of trauma. While we've had many breakthroughs with the dogs, some have yet to recover. And some may never recover from the abuse and neglect they suffered in Vick's care. To our knowledge, neither Vick, his handlers, nor the NFL has called to ask how the dogs are doing. And these very real, living victims of the crime are nowhere to be found in the continuing debate about Vick's rehabilitation.

"It makes you feel very insecure. You feel like a dope standing there with just a script and earphones on, trying to make ape sounds. " - GLENN CLOSE, who provides the voice of a mother gorilla for an upcoming cartoon version of "Tarzan," on "Access Hollywood" Mystery solved. Here's the reason Broadway buddy Rosie O'Donnell was a no-show at the Tony Awards Sunday night. O'Donnell, who'd planned to present an award during this year's telecast, bailed at the last minute, citing a family emergency.