Two good things actually came out of the otherwise shameful Michael Vick dogfighting case. One, the disgraced former Atlanta Falcons quarterback is being punished. Two, the whole sorry episode shocked Georgia into action.

This week, Gov. Sonny Perdue signed off on tougher dogfighting laws, making them among the nation's more stringent.

The new law makes it a crime to train dogs for fighting, sell them, own them or transport them -- or even attend a dogfight. All offenses except attending a fight now rank as felonies.

The new law moves Georgia from 50th nationwide in toughness of dogfighting laws to No. 20, according to the Humane Society of the United States.

Calling dogfighting a sport disgraces real sports. Pitting two animals against each other is nothing more than a bloody, sadistic ritual for misguided people with a sick addiction to watching animals suffer.

Now there are laws in place that will bring much more pressure to bear on these abhorrent lawbreakers, and we are thankful for it -- especially in light of the suspected dogfighting ring that was busted in Augusta last August.

This barbarism toward dogs should be stamped out, and we hope this law goes far in making that happen.