PHOTOS: Over 40 dogs seized from squalid conditions in Daytona Beach dogfighting bust

Daytona Beach Police have arrested three men in connection with a dogfighting ring and seized over 40 dogs.

On February 22, police searched the properties on 225 and 227 Reva Street and found a fence that was put up illegally inside a vacant lot. It was torn down, allowing officers to find the dogs inside.

Police said they found 42 pit bulls living in the properties - 24 adults and 18 puppies. Most dogs were being kept outside in small kennels made of wood and wire, or car carriers. Some were chained to car axles with little or no access to clean water or food. Many of the female were breeding new puppies for fighting.

“Some of those dogs had no access to shelter and a lot of the ones that did were living in areas that were caked with urine and feces,” Daytona Police wrote in a press release. “Many of the dogs wore collars which had to be cut off because of how tight they fit.”

Many of the dogs had cuts that were healing or other wounds on their bodies which are consistent with dogfighting.

All of pit bulls were taken to Halifax Humane Society for safe keeping.

Police arrested Noble Geathers, 53, Earl Holmes, 50, and Benjamin Ponder, 33, and charged them with many felonies including animal cruelty, animal fighting and practicing veterinary medicine without a license.

Police believe Geathers was the ringleader. He faces 35 charges. He and Ponder have posted bond while Holmes remains in the Volusia County Jail.

Cox Media Group