MANSFIELD, Texas (AP) - Authorities investigating an animal cruelty complaint on the southern fringe of the Dallas-Fort Worth area seized about 40 pit bulls and pit-bull mixes.

Johnson County sheriff's deputies say the seizures came yesterday at a mobile home between Venus and Mansfield. Detective Steve Shaw says four dogs were found dead, and 36 were taken to the Humane Society of North Texas in nearby Fort Worth.

The dogs were chained behind the residence and were malnourished, and some of the pit bulls had scars. The dogs had no food and had only pans of dirty, stagnant water.

Shaw says investigators are trying to determine if the dogs were used for fighting. He says the mobile home was being removed from the property when deputies arrived and the property owner wasn't at the scene.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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