Police said 15 pit bulls, 14 that were injured and one that was dead, were found at a row home in the 2800 block of West Lafayette Avenue on Tuesday evening.
"The conditions here were rough. There's a lot of evidence of dogfighting that happened in this location," said Detective Patrick Huter of the city's canine animal abuse task force.
Investigators arrested the dogs' owner, who they described as the leader of a west Baltimore dogfighting ring. They said he outfitted the narrow row house as a gruesome training center and fighting venue that was equipped with treadmills.
"There was blood splatter on the carpets and walls, and an actual ring where the dogs were being fought. Dogs were chained to the walls, and there were scales," Huter said.
Officials said that location was part of a larger dogfighting ring operating out of that part of town.
Police told 11 News they uncovered the operation while searching a nearby home in the 500 block of Fulton Avenue for drugs on Friday. Officials said that house was packed with marijuana and other drugs, several guns and 11 dogs, including a dead pit bull in the back yard.
Officials told 11 News that five people were arrested between the two homes. They will face dogfighting, weapons and drug charges.
"You know, the punishment is not strong enough for animal cruelty in Maryland. It needs to be a much stronger punishment. People need to know that this is taken very seriously," Brause said.
Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot said the case shows how dogfighting is closely tied to other types of crime.
"If individuals will abuse animals, the likelihood that they will treat humans violently is also very high. So, we see this as part of an overall strategy to reducing violence in the city," she said.
"It obviously brings a lot of criminals together, and in this case alone, I think we saw this was connected to a drug organization where there were guns involved," said police Lt. Col. Dan Lioli.
Police have not yet released the identities of the people arrested, but they said more arrests may be imminent.
Officials told 11 News that some of the 26 dogs that were seized had fresh fighting wounds. Those dogs were taken to the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter.
Rescued dogs begin recovery
Most of the dogs at BARCS are doing surprisingly well Wednesday considering that investigators said they were recovered from horrific conditions.
Four-month-old pit bull Angel was a little scared, but has a sweet disposition. She was one of dogs recovered.
"She's an innocent victim in this situation and you can see here how her ears are cut basically. They cut off their ears like this so they can prepare dogs for dogfighting. They do this so that other dogs cannot grab a hold of their ears and take advantage of that dog," said Jennifer Brause with BARCS.
In Friday's raid, police said they found one dog dead and had to euthanize another for aggression. The remaining 24 dogs are recovering at BARCS.
"Most of the dogs do appear overall in good condition. They do, however, have some scarring, some fresh scarring and some old scars, which is consistent with dog fighting," Brause said.
In the meantime, BARCS will continue to evaluate the dogs over the next several weeks and they hope all of them can end up in good homes.
"Some of the animals I think will be perfectly fine going up for adoption. I think others will need to go to rescue groups where they can further evaluate them and work with them and find out if they are going to be able to be acclimated into a home environment," Brause said.
The State's Attorney Office said the person arrested in Tuesday's raid was not booked in jail and has not yet been charged.
Authorities said the investigation is ongoing.
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