Dog charity seeks to buy Vick home

SURRY, Va., March 20 (UPI) -- A non-profit group says it wants to purchase Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick's old home in Virginia and turn it into a haven for dogs.

Monica Severy, founder of Dogs Deserve Better, tells the Washington Post the 15-acre estate would be a place for rescue dogs to run free while at the same time being house-trained and socialized for eventual adoption.

Severy said she would leave the grim kennels that once housed fighting dogs in place as a memorial of sorts. "The dogs deserve for this to be seen," she said. "It's an important piece of history."

The Post said Sunday that Dogs Deserve Better has a ways to go before it raises the full sale price of nearly $600,000.

In addition, some neighbors in the rural area of Surry County are cool to the idea of a bunch of dogs roaming the area unsupervised. They told the Post they worried the animals might bite someone or get into territorial scrapes with the many hunting dogs that also have the run of the area.

"A lot of people think hunting dogs are only out during deer season, but a lot of people, like me, let our dogs out all the time," said Richie Clark, who lives next door to the old Vick place. "They get in the woods and run around."