Divided Loyalties for Governor Rendell?

I know you are probably sick of hearing about the Michael Vick deal, but how's this for irony? On the day that Vick made his debut with the Eagles (Thursday night, for those of you who are paying attention), Governor Rendell signed an anti-animal cruelty bill into law.

Now for those of you who don't know this, Rendell is a HUGE Eagles fan--in fact he is probably the only Governor who appears on the local Comcast post-game live show following each Eagle's home game. He is also a huge animal lover. His two rescue golden retrievers are frequent passengers in the back seat of the limo that ferries him around and they have been spotted at many state occasions. Rendell makes no secret of the fact that he loves dogs.

The new law makes it illegal for any one other than a veterinarian to do the following: cropping, trimming or cutting off an ear; debarking by cutting or injuring the animal's vocal chords; surgically birthing a dog and removing dewclaws from a dog over five days of age.

"Until now, these cruel practices could be carried out by dog owners without proper training and without supervision by a licensed vet, which could lead to long-term injury, pain, and in some cases, death to these defenseless animals," said Rendell at the bill-signing ceremony, which was also attended by one of his golden retrievers, Maggie. The new law also increases penalties for dog fighting.

Prior to this bill, many puppy mill operators would perform these procedures, subjecting many Pennsylvania animals to what is tantamount to torture. Department of Agriculture spokesman, Justin Fleming said that the new law requires an animal warden to refer the case to the local human officer as a cruelty complaint if they see an animals on which these procedures have been performed.

So here's the big question? How does the Governor feel about Michael Vick sporting an Eagle's jersey and will he still let Maggie watch the games? Better yet, what will he have to say if Vick makes it into a regular season game?

Stay tuned. This may be one instance where the Governor, never at a loss for words, may have to bite his tongue.