'Pit bull' slaying investigated

The Toledo Police Department and the Toledo Area Humane Society are investigating the death of a "pit bull" mix that, according to a police report, had "most of its head missing" when it was found.

The brindle-colored male dog, which was not wearing a dog license, was found early Tuesday in a ravine about 50 yards from 22 Jervis St.

Officers who responded to a call of shots being fired found two spent shotgun shells and blood evidence on the porch of the house.

Jeremy Fulton, 26, a resident at the house, told The Blade on Wednesday that the dog was not his and he was not home at the time it was shot. He then declined comment. The police report indicates that neighbors heard the shots at about 3:45 a.m. Police tried to make contact with the home's occupants from 7:43 to 7:57 a.m. by beating on the front door. When they received no response, they broke a rear door window to gain entry to the house in order to check the safety of the home's occupants.

Both Mr. Fulton and another occupant, Rachel Ferguson, 19, emerged from the upstairs area of the house when officers, who had been calling out to announce themselves, started walking up the stairs. Both denied any wrongdoing, and no eyewitnesses could be found as to what took place, according to police Sgt. Pete Lavey.

Ms. Ferguson was on crutches and, according to the police report, had been treated for a dog bite on her left foot earlier in the day at Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center. She said the incident had taken place "somewhere on Euclid Street," according to police.

The police report says "the house smelled of dog and evidence that a dog was present were found (dog cage, bowl of food, etc.)," though no other dog was found in the house.

Officers found the dead dog by following the blood trail from the porch into a field and found the dog with "most of its head missing from what appears to be a shotgun blast."

Before the Lucas County dog warden removed the dog, a witness identified the remains as belonging to Mr. Fulton. The dog warden's office is holding the dog for quarantine because it "possibly bit two people" and for the police department's investigation, according to the dog warden's report on the incident.

Staff writer Taylor Dungjen contributed to this report.

Contact Tanya Irwin at: tirwin@theblade.com or 419-724-6066.

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Toledo police say blasts from shotgun killed animal.