Humans don't wag their tails, lick their owners' faces or give a territorial bark when strangers come to the door. Often they aren't as beloved as dogs.

So the continued public backlash against former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick for his role in a grisly dog-fighting ring comes as no surprise. Tales of electrocution and torture of animals horrified the nation when they came to light two years ago.

But, no matter what the NFL and the American legal system would have us believe, human lives are just as precious. More so, in fact.

That should have been reflected in the sentence against Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth, who pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter. Emphasis on should have. Stallworth got 30 days in jail for killing a construction worker while driving drunk.

Vick, by comparison, was given a

23-month federal prison sentence.

Sure, there were a few mitigating circumstances in Stallworth's favor that weren't present in the dog-fighting case. He cooperated fully and immediately with police. He didn't expect the victim to be crossing where he did.

Those don't change the underlying facts: Stallworth drank too much and killed a man. Not a dog. A man with a devastated family.

This isn't the first time a football star has skated by after causing someone's death. St. Louis Rams defensive lineman Leonard Little spent 90 days in jail in the late 1990s for killing a Missouri woman while he drove drunk.

Little has been allowed to play 10 more seasons since that accident. Why aren't teams as willing to wash their hands of criminals like those as they are with Vick? One by one, teams have announced they're not interested in signing the quarterback, who is due to be released from house arrest soon.

Cases against players like Stallworth and Plaxico Burress, a former New York Giants wide receiver facing gun charges after accidentally shooting himself, are typically arranged so they can continue playing and serve their time in the off-season. Granted, those players can afford pricey attorneys, but does anyone believe a seasonal construction worker would get the same deference?

Stallworth likely will play just as many NFL games as Vick in 2009 - zero - after NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended him indefinitely. It's a small first step toward raising two-legged victims to the same pedestal where we hold our canine friends.