Ten of 12 pit bull terriers seized Friday by Warren County deputies will probably have to be euthanized, the shelter director charged with their care said today.

Two are still being evaluated for their aggressiveness in the presence of other dogs and could be saved, said Georgia Lynn, president and director of the Vicksburg-Warren Humane Society.

Sheriff Martin Pace said no arrests have been made in the case, but investigators are following leads.

“We are confident that we are going to be able to identify the person that was responsible for those dogs,” Pace said. “I am hopeful that an arrest is going to be made.”

Firefighters discovered the pit bulls Friday morning in a wooded area north of C.J. Fisher Drive, off Mississippi 27, after extinguishing a nearly blaze.

The dogs were kept without food or fresh water, attached by logging chains to metal spikes in the ground made from lawnmower tractor axles. Thick leather collars were tightened around their necks.

The seven females and five males were taken to the humane society on U.S. 61 South for kennelling and treatment. Lynn said all but two of the 12 had wounds and scars consistent with dogfighting, three of them severe.

All are in poor health and all are underweight, she said.

“Saturday we went in and loosened all their collars,” Lynn said. “Their necks were chafed and rubbed raw.” One collar had to be cut off, she said. “I don’t know how that dog was breathing, the collar was so tight.”

Pace said investigators do not have to have witness that the dogs were fighting to bring felony charges.

“The possession of the dogs with the intent to fight is a crime,” said the sheriff. “The evidence gathered at the scene will clearly show those dogs had been here for only one purpose, and that was to fight.”

The owner of the property on which the dogs were found is not a suspect, he said.

Staff at the humane society have not been able to test the dogs for heartworm and other health issues because as other dogs have been taken in at the shelter in the last three days, the pit bulls have been very agitated. “They’ve been staying pretty worked up out there,” Lynn said.