Man arrested over 25 pit bulls seized in Muncie

MUNCIE, Ind. — Police in Muncie have arrested a man who investigators believe was training pit bulls for a dog-fighting operation.

The 35-year-old man was arrested Thursday on preliminary felony counts of buying or possessing animals for fighting and other criminal charges.

The arrest comes a week after police officers and animal shelter workers removed 25 pit bulls from a squalid mobile home. Some were found in small crates inside the trailer and an adjacent garage, with a few others chained in the property's backyard.

Muncie Animal Shelter director Phil Peckinpaugh tells The Star Press that one of the dogs was euthanized because of severe injuries. The others are at the animal shelter, with 11 having been cleared for transfer to dog rescue groups.