[cougarfan06]

what authorities are calling one of the biggest dog fighting busts in recent history, Union County authorities have seized 36 pit bulls from an Indian Trail home.

Deputies were tipped off to the home when a couple riding in a hot-air balloon spotted the dogs and called police.

Authorities confiscated the dogs Thursday, along with a treadmill, laxatives and scales -- tools that dog fighters often use to help ensure the dogs fit a certain weight category, akin to boxing, said Lt. Michelle Starnes with the Sheriff's Office. Deputies also found an empty room they say was covered in feces.

Stanley Max Plowman Jr., 26, who owns the dogs, told the Observer he didn't train dogs for fights. Authorities are still investigating and he has not been charged.

It's Union County's biggest bust, said Sheriff Eddie Cathey.

Deputies are investigating similar cases elsewhere, he said, and the illegal sport is growing nationwide.

"It's a more profitable thing now than it ever has been," he said.

Deputies seized 29 dogs, seven puppies, a gun and a computer from Plowman's home. They also took a DVD Plowman said he bought at the Sweet Union Flea Market titled "Off the Chain," which is described on its Web site as a movie about the underground world of dog fighting.

Deputies also took several training tapes, Cathey said. None of the videos or pictures seized involve Plowman's dogs so far, Starnes said, adding that deputies hadn't finished viewing the evidence.

Plowman said he boards, breeds and sells pit bulls, and conditions them only for dog shows, not fights. "I buy dogs from people with the scars already on them so they won't get fought again," Plowman said.

But Starnes said she believes the "pulling competition" awards deputies seized from his house were won for fighting.

Most of Plowman's dogs were gentle and had old injuries, Starnes said. One dog was emaciated and another had a torn ear. That dog, Plowman said, was attacked last year by another of his dogs, who died in the fight.

"I didn't have the money to take him to the vet," Plowman told the Observer. "I healed him up as best as I could."

The 36 dogs seized in the Union County case will likely be euthanized, Starnes said, because they were bred for fighting.

Nationwide, the number of dogs seized at one time for dog fighting ranges from a dozen to 285, which were rounded up in Houston last year, according to news reports. An estimated 50,000 dog fighters exist nationwide, with roughly 1,000 in North Carolina, said Bob Reder, N.C. program manager for the Humane Society of the United States.

Dog fighters fit into three categories: street, hobbyist and professional, he said. Not a lot of money or planning exists at the street level, with spontaneous fights taking place in alleys or behind buildings. Professionals, though, will fly their dogs across the U.S. for competitions, with as much as $150,000 exchanging hands after fights, Reder said. At least three big-time professionals breed and fight dogs in North Carolina, he said.

The Internet also has fueled the popularity of dog fights because anyone, anywhere, can place bets, said Ernie Wilkinson, chairman of the N.C. Task Force on Animal Fighting.

"It's a very under-the-table type crime," Wilkinson said.

-- Staff writer April Bethea contributed.

-- Dánica Coto: 704-358-5065.