Atlanta Humane Society puts unwanted Vick jerseys to work

~ The No. 7 can be used for animal bedding and cleaning purposes.

ATLANTA -- When the bright red jerseys with the bold No. 7 started arriving in the mail, staffers at the Atlanta Humane Society were a bit surprised.

Monday, however, about a dozen Atlanta Falcons football jerseys bearing the name and number of quarterback Michael Vick have been put to good use -- as animal bedding or, even more likely, rags to scrub up the mess that dogs leave behind.

"Kind of appropriate," said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, of the jerseys that have been mailed to the shelter since Vick was indicted last month on federal dogfighting charges .

On Monday, Vick's lawyer said his client plans to plead guilty in the case next week. The charges include claims that he backed a dogfighting operation in Virginia.

Atlanta Humane Society spokeswoman P.J. Smith said many of the jerseys were accompanied with financial contributions to the society and letters of outrage over the charges.

"It's wonderful to see the public support and in a very unique way," Smith said.

Nationally, Pacelle said the group has seen a spike in support since the charges against Vick first became public.

More than 300,000 messages were sent through the Humane Society's Web site urging NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to ban Vick and nearly 200,000 were sent to Nike, which has suspended a lucrative endorsement deal with Vick and pulled his products off shelves.

The only other wave of support for the Humane Society comparable to the Vick outcry was the response after Hurricane Katrina left thousands of animals homeless, Pacelle said.

"[Dogfighting] is an issue we have known was very big in the country and growing in certain areas, but the public felt it was a solved issue," he said. "People now know that the battle is not over."

Like other Humane Society branches, Smith said the Atlanta shelter has received thousands of letters and e-mails from across the country. But sitting just blocks away from the Georgia Dome, where Vick once dazzled fans with his on-field moves, she said the batch of No. 7s from disaffected Vick fans is probably unique.

For Rocky, a brown Labrador retriever mix waiting at the Atlanta Humane Society for a permanent home, one of the jerseys was being used to line his bed Monday.

"It's his security blanket," Smith said. "He's still a puppy and he's grown quite attached to it."