Rescued LI pit bulls to be featured on TV

A group of abused pit bulls rescued from a dogfighting ring in Elmont have found a new home and national television appearance with a rehabilitation organization in Los Angeles.

The Villalobos Rescue Center will make its longest cross-country trip -- from Southern California to Long Island -- to pick up the six dogs now at the Hempstead Town Animal Shelter. Rescue center officials, who named the animals "The Hempstead Hopefuls," are scheduled to arrive Nov. 12, town officials said.

Animal Shelter director Cindy Iacopella and her staff reached out to the Villalobos center, led by Tia Torres, star of the Animal Planet series "Pit Bulls & Parolees." The Hempstead animals will be featured on the show, town officials said. The center is raising funds to pay for its trip to Long Island and back, town officials said.

"We are thrilled that these dogs will be taken in by a wonderful organization that provides hope for pit bulls across the country," Town Supervisor Kate Murray said in a statement.

Eight pit bulls and a German shepherd were seized in June and cared for at the shelter. The German shepherd was returned to its owner, one pit bull was taken by another animal rescue group and one was adopted.

The pit bulls' owner Marlon Bernier, 25, of Elmont, in October pleaded guilty to criminal contempt and three counts of violating the New York State Agricultural and Markets law that prohibits dogfighting, a spokesman for the Nassau County district attorney's office said. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 3.

The pit bulls "are getting a second chance to live a loving life with family instead of being subjected to a horrible life of cruelty," Iacopella said.

Diane Madden, a critic of the shelter, supported the rescue effort but said other animals at the facility should receive the same treatment.

"All of the shelter animals deserve an opportunity at rescue and deserve the same effort to be saved," Madden said. "The ones left behind . . . are not 'Hempstead's Hopefuls.' "