An animal rescue official in Lake County, Indiana says it may be the worse case of animal cruelty she’s ever seen. Sixteen injured and malnourished pit bulls were found this week in a home near Gary.

April Godra works as the community liaison at the animal control center for the Lake County sheriff’s department and says, “I think we discovered something by accident. I think this is the tip of a very large iceberg. I think that there are a lot of different fighting sites in Lake County and around the state.”

Lake County sheriff’s deputies were called earlier this week to a home in unincorporated Gary that’s owned by Carlton Davis, Jr., a Gary firefighter. Criminal charges are expected by early next week.

Police confiscated a number of items from the property, including tools, chains, electrical shock devices and even a sort of wooden canine treadmill, used to keep the dogs in fighting shape.

Officials say most of the dogs will have to be euthanized, since they were bred to fight. Many are very aggressive toward other dogs, but not humans.