By Jill Rosen, The Baltimore Sun
5:13 PM EDT, September 25,2011

Oriole Adam Jones giving his dog Eskimo kisses. Fighter John Rallo hugging a cat tight to his muscled chest. Ravens linebacker Jarret Johnson proudly calling his dog his best friend.

These are the images people across Baltimore will begin seeing next week, as a new campaign against animal cruelty rolls out across the city. Creators of the campaign, called "Show Your Soft Side" and
featuring tough, strong athletes, want to convince kids in a city where youngsters have recently been charged with burning, beating and stoning animals, that real men love cats and dogs - they don't hurt them.

"I think if kids see these very macho guys in these photographs, it will perhaps change their thinking," says Caroline Griffin, who leads Baltimore's Anti- Animal Cruelty Commission. "Hurting an animal is not a rite of passage to show your manhood." Read More