NATCHEZ — As day broke Tuesday, Adams County Sheriff’s Office investigators remained standing guard at the scene of what they believe to be a large dog fighting operation in eastern Adams County.

“We’re waiting on the search warrant from the judge,” Sheriff Travis Patten said early Tuesday morning. “We cannot touch anything until we get that search warrant.”

Deputies received a tip Monday night that a possible dog-fighting farm was operating at 29 1/2 Miracle Road in the Cranfield community.

When deputies arrived, the sheriff said, they found no humans on the property, but discovered dozens of dogs chained up around the property, many horribly injured and what he described as a “bone yard” of dog skeletal remains.

Deputies were searching for the property owner, Tommie Queen, who is believed to be the owner of the property and the prime person of interest to the investigation, the sheriff said.

“He is the owner of the property and he’s definitely a suspect,” Patten said. “We have made contact with the suspect’s girlfriend. She’s cooperating, but we have not talked to him yet. We’re still looking for him.”

Anyone who knows Queen’s whereabouts or any information about the case is asked to contact sheriff’s investigators by calling 911.

Patten said Monday night a minimum of 35 dogs, some of which appeared so horribly injured that he believed they would have to be euthanized, were visible on the property, though without a search warrant, it was impossible to determine an exact total.

Deputies also discovered a 2007 Ford F250 pickup truck reported stolen from the Prentiss area.

The amount of injured dogs was too great for the sheriff’s office to handle alone. Patten said crews from a national humane society were en route and expected to arrive Monday morning.

The size and scope of the operation made the animal abuse case one of the worst he had ever seen, Patten said.

“According to the intelligence we’re getting, these people have been doing it for a while, years,” he said.