Many dog carcasses found by old South High

Police, dog wardens and a humane investigator checked for dog fighting.

By PATRICIA MEADE

VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER

YOUNGSTOWN — In a dead-end neighborhood directly behind Eagle Heights Academy, an untold number of dog carcasses and bones litter the woods.

“I’ve got poodles, Chihuahuas and pit bulls,” Dave Nelson, a Mahoning County deputy dog warden, shouted from trees behind 138 E. Warren Ave. “There’s lots of collars and leashes but no IDs.”

Nelson held up the bare skull of a dog to illustrate his grisly find. The wooded area continues to the street’s dead end — as do the remains of dogs, some in plastic bags, some exposed, he said.

The animals’ remains were expected to be removed today by a city worker.

The dead-end stretch of East Warren is behind the stadium of the former South High School. The school faces Market Street.

Reports of dog fighting

Nelson and others were on the South Side street Tuesday afternoon to check out reports of dog fighting in unattached garages behind small houses at 130, 134 and 138 E. Warren. Only 130 E. Warren was occupied, by 27-year-old Lacreshia May and her children.

Besides Nelson, the team included Sean Toohey, deputy dog warden, Patrolmen Tony Tulipano and Bill Ward, John Hall, Animal Charity humane investigator, and John Rossetti, city housing inspector.

“There’s dead dogs tied inside a [oil] drum,” Ward said, walking out of the woods. “One caller said there were dogs here who died from fighting in the garages.”

Ward found a stolen Oldsmobile in the grass behind 138 E. Warren and a stolen Buick inside the garage at 130 E. Warren. He had them towed and held for auto theft detectives.

Holding up a fast-food restaurant’s plastic bag, Hall presented his discovery: A dead black and white pit bull puppy.

“He just died. How could somebody do that?” Hall asked no one in particular. “There’s dead animals everywhere in those woods.”

Rossetti placed red tags on 130, 134 and 138 E. Warren, deeming them uninhabitable. May, the resident of 130, has 72 hours to clean up the property strewn with trash, debris and broken glass or find a new place to live.

The other two vacant properties are wide open.

Nelson, who followed the sounds of a barking dog to the open garage at 130 E. Warren, used a snare to remove a malnourished mixed-breed cane corso with bite mark injuries. The animal had been chained in the dark garage without food or water.

Shaking and pulling back on the snare, the mottled, dark-brown animal, an Italian mastiff breed, was placed inside a county dog warden van by Nelson and Toohey. Nelson tried to allay the dog’s fears with a soothing “It’s OK, boy, it’s OK” and then provided the thirsty dog with water.

Cited

Toohey cited May for having an unlicensed cane corso and an unlicensed pit bull. The pit bull, a large reddish male, was found barricaded with furniture to keep him inside a room in the basement.

Hall left a 15-hour warning notice for May. She must contact him to give up the pit bull in her basement.

The city’s new ordinance that bans pit bulls took effect Saturday. The exceptions are pit bulls that previously met all the licensing, insurance and confinement requirements before the ban took effect.

Chester Richardson, who has lived at 126 E. Warren since 1981, watched the efforts of city and county workers and summed up what they did as a “good thing.” He said he wasn’t aware of dog fights — or the dead dogs in the woods.

“I’ve been here 40 years. I was concerned about the abandoned homes — a lot of roaches came across the street” said Mary Coleman, who lives across from 138 E. Warren. “I didn’t know about the dogs. I’m glad the police and everyone else is here.”

meade@vindy.com