Next Month, Animal Planet will air a new show, Pit Bulls and Parolees. The reality program is based on the Villalobos Rescue Center, the largest pit bull rescue in the United States, where both rescued pit bulls and ex-cons get a second chance. Animal Planet is calling the show “a chance at redemption, rehabilitation, and rebirth for both man and man’s best friend.” (I don’t know about you guys, but I’m thinking this is bound to be amazing.)
Killian, an older blind pit bull, peers from his kennel at Villalobos Rescue Center. Richard Vogel/AP
The show follows Villalobos founder, Tia Maria Torres, and six parolees, 225 pit bulls, 204 volunteers, two French bulldogs, 19 cats, and Torres’ husband and four kids. Each episode will feature one dog, one rescue, one adoption, and of course, all the drama surrounding the facility.
Pit Bulls and Parolees—which will focus on the interaction of the dogs and the men—came about because Torres was trying to figure out a way to help cover the facility’s $20,000 in monthly bills and her fast-growing $25,000 vet tab. (She initially opened a brothel to pay the bills, but it burned down. No joke.)
The parolees work for food, shelter, gas, cigarettes, and the dogs. "We call them the baddest good guys in town,” Torres told the Associated Press. “They are polite, thankful. They are two-legged versions of the dogs we take in.”
Below is a news clips from My Fox LA:
What do you guys think of this idea for a show?