Four people were arrested and 33 dogs confiscated today in a raid on a dog-fighting facility in Aragon.

"This is the largest one we've ever encountered," said Capt. Randy Turner of the Polk County Police Department.

Police were still on the scene at 569 Cashtown Road this afternoon processing evidence.

Names of those arrested will be available after they are formally booked into the Polk County Jail, Turner said.

Charges will include cruelty to animals and several other charges relating to dog fighting, officials said.

The raid, arrests and processing the scene involved a number of agencies including the Polk County Police Department, the Polk County Sheriff's Office, Polk County Animal Control, the Atlanta Humane Society and a private investigation firm of Norred & Associates in Atlanta.

Chuck Simmons, an investigator with Norred & Associates, said they specialize in gathering information on dog-fighting and do this type of work for free.

It was a tip to Norred & Associates investigators in February that prompted an investigation and search warrant.

"We did the investigation and took evidence to the district attorney and the Polk County police a couple of weeks ago," Simmons said. "They did their investigation and determined to execute a search warrant."

Turner said the information was invaluable to them because this is the type of facility that could go undetected.

"It goes through the woods one-half mile or more," he said. "It's not in their yard where neighbors would see."

Police said this facility appears to be primarily for dog-fight training and breeding. However, Turner has not ruled out the possibility that it could also have hosted dog fighting as well.

"We're trying to find out the location they were taking them to," he said. "We haven't walked through the woods yet."

Simmons said he feels confident evidence will show that dog-fighting did happen on the property.

"We have found paraphernalia indicating it has been here, a fighting pit, equipment, that sort of thing," Simmons said.

The first priority, according to officials, is to provide immediate care for the dogs.

"We're taking the dogs out of the heat," Turner said. "None had access to food or water."

However, Turner and other officials said none of the dogs were injured or neglected.

Miguel Abi-Hasson, director of the Animal Welfare Initiative and Outreach, agreed.

"The dogs are in pretty good health. The way that fighting dogs are taken care of is different from your typical pet, but owners have to keep them in good health for fighting."

Abi-Hasson said the Humane Emergency Animal Rescue Team (HEART) was called out because of the number of dogs involved. Typically, HEART is called when a local animal control agency is limited in space and personnel in handling criminal cases or natural disasters affecting animals.

Veterinarians and vet techs began assessing the pit bulls and pit bull-mix dogs on the Cashtown Road property, Abi-Hasson said. He said evaluations of the animals will continue at an undisclosed location.

"There is a possibility of adoption," he said, adding that each animal will have to be thoroughly evaluated.

"We're looking for liability mainly. Some of them may have been used for breeding stock. There's some puppies here."

Abi-Hasson said this was an amateur dog-fighting facility, as most are. He said this is the ninth dog-fighting case the society has covered in the Southeast in the past year and a half.