Story highlights Texas deputies find two toddlers in the backyard of a house

One was chained to the ground, the other tied to a door with a dog leash, authorities say

Six other children were found unattended inside the house

(CNN) Around midnight Thursday, deputies went to a house near San Antonio after somebody called to report hearing a child crying in a backyard, according to a Friday news release from the Bexar County Sheriff's Office.

The deputies knocked on the front door, got no answer, and went around back, using a ladder to look over the fence, James Keith, spokesman for the sheriff's office, told CNN affiliate KABB

They saw two toddlers in a state that Keith struggled to describe.

A 2-year-old boy was "chained to the ground as if he was a dog," he said. "There was no slack in the chain. His pants were down. You could tell he'd been here for a while. And then a short distance away, a 3-year-old girl who was tied to a door with a dog leash who was just exhausted."

The deputies moved quickly to release the two youngsters, but their work was not finished.

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