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'Pit Bulls & Parolees' Season 16 Episode 2 Preview: Dogfighting bust leaves team with a lot to handle

The episode tells the story of how Villalobos Rescue Center helped with the cases from the bust of the Breaux Bridge dogfighting ring

The Villalobos Rescue Center is about to have their resources put to the test, as the bust of a dogfighting ring leaves them with more dogs to take care of than they may be able to handle. The team is facing a huge challenge, with this bust, but they're not working alone — they're helping out a local rescue, but even with both shelters working together, taking care of nearly 50 new dogs is no easy task.

The synopsis for the episode reads, "With nearly 50 dogs in their care after a dogfighting ring is raided, a rescue reaches out to Tia and Villalobos for some much-needed help." The case that the show is referring to is the infamous Breaux Bridge dogfighting case, where a man was arrested on 47 counts of animal cruelty for dogfighting in July, 2018. The sheer number of dogs that were rescued overwhelmed the resources of the St. Martin Parish Animal Services. 

Tia Torres and the Villalobos Rescue Center were called in to help handle some of the pit bulls who were part of this dogfighting ring. According to a report, the dogs were in various stages of training, meaning the majority of them were not yet fully taught the viciousness. “They are in various stages of training,” says St. Martin Parish Animal Services Coordinator Michelle Brignac, to the Daily Iberian. “There are a few of them that I’m going to assume may have been someone’s dogs who were just picked up by these people. They were going to be used for one thing or another. It really seems like they were in someone’s house, that they were someone’s pet.”

The episode preview, which you can see here, shows that several of the dogs are not only injured, but have received permanent scarring from their ordeal in the dogfighting rings. Fortunately, that has not dimmed their friendly spirit, making the challenge of finding them new homes that much easier for Tia Torres and her family. It is a shocking case, but with the help of the Villalobos Rescue Center, things just might have a happy ending.

This episode of 'Pit Bulls and Parolees' airs on August 1, on Animal Planet.