Police were at an East Oakland home on Eldridge Avenue yesterday to serve a search warrant on an unrelated case when they stumbled upon a horrible scene — “a training site for dog fighting,” according to the San Jose Mercury News.

Nobody was home — and nobody has been arrested — but after officers heard many dogs barking, they went into the backyard to investigate.

Nine Pit Bulls were back there, without food or water, “tired and terrified,” and suffering from many wounds consistent with dog fighting. Two more were inside. One was missing part of an ear.

Dave Cronin, with the city’s animal service, described what he found. “The dogs were living in horrible conditions, lots of scars on their face. One of them has half his ear chewed off,” he told KCBS.

Investigators found treadmills and weighted belts used to build muscle, as well as medications and syringes used to treat wounds.

This case reminds us of another one that hit close to Dogster’s home in San Francisco in September, when a video was uncovered that pointed to a dog-fighting ring in the city.

“A lot of people think, ‘this doesn’t happen in my community or doesn’t happen in a big city,’” said Cronin. “But these are operations that are taking place in San Francisco in warehouses, in Oakland, in San Jose. They are occurring all over the place.”

Cronin said that his staff has regularly been finding dead dogs on Monday, the victims of weekend fights, according to KCBS.

Alameda County District Attorney’s office said it has made it a priority to prosecute dog-fighting cases. Currently, the dogs are being housed at the Oakland Animal Shelter and are being examined by a vet, and the investigation continues.

Via KCBS and the San Jose Mercury News