Pit bull rescue group tried to keep pit bull which bit its new owner from being quarantined at the shelter

OHIO -- The Lucas County Pit Crew is preparing for a legal battle after a dog from the rescue group was seized from a foster home Wednesday by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office.

A gray-and-white “pit bull” named Bosco is in the center of the turmoil after a biting incident Saturday.

Jean Keating, executive director of the Pit Crew, said Bosco was adopted Dec. 23 by Gwen and Matthew Boughton of Wauseon. She said Bosco bit Mr. Boughton on Saturday morning, and the couple asked the rescue group to take him back.

Mrs. Boughton “asked us to come and get him because she was not comfortable having him in their house with the kids,” Ms. Keating said.

When reached by The Blade, Mrs. Boughton referred all questions to the county sheriff’s office. Neither the sheriff’s office nor Scott Haselman, Fulton County prosecutor, returned messages from The Blade.

The Boughtons on Saturday had taken Bosco to a relative’s house where he was “jumping on the counter,” according to a Wauseon police report.

The report was taken Monday at the request of Brian Banister, Fulton County dog warden.

Mr. Boughton “told the dog to get down” and “grabbed the dog’s collar, and the dog bit” his wrist, the report states. Mr. Boughton went to the hospital with a minor injury and received two stitches.

Bosco was originally a stray picked up by the Lucas County Canine Care & Control on Oct. 18 from Maher Street in Toledo. He was vaccinated for rabies at the shelter and transferred to the Pit Crew after being neutered Oct. 29.

Ms. Keating said the dog had been nothing but friendly and loving toward shelter staff and rescue volunteers.

“Everybody loved him,” Ms. Keating said. “Bosco was good with everybody, including kids and other dogs. His only issue was he was a little jumpy when he gets excited.”

Ms. Keating said she was surprised to hear Bosco had bitten Mr. Boughton, and Mrs. Boughton told her that he touched the dog on the back before reaching for the dog’s collar.

Bosco was picked up from the Boughton’s home by a Pit Crew volunteer within an hour, Ms. Keating said, and taken to a foster home with Kevin Bauer in Pike Township. The rescue intended to quarantine Bosco there for 10 days as required by Ohio law and scheduled a veterinary checkup at the end of the quarantine.

Ms. Keating said she was contacted by the Fulton County Health Department via email Monday morning, asking for the specific address where the dog was being held and indicating the dog needed to be quarantined at the county pound.

Ohio law requires a dog must stay in the county where a bite occurs during quarantine, but Ms. Keating contends there is no state or local law requiring a dog to be quarantined at the pound or any other specific location.

Ms. Keating said she feared Bosco would be “killed out of spite” if taken to the pound. Fulton County officials have been under fire from area advocates for more than a year regarding the operations of the county pound and its policies related to “pit bulls.” Ms. Keating and the two organizations she leads, the Pit Crew and the Ohio Coalition of Dog Advocates, have been involved in grassroots efforts to investigate the operations of the pound and advocate for change.

“We have pending litigation with Banister in another situation,” Ms. Keating said. “We’ve shown the public that he doesn’t do his job. He saw an opportunity to take it out on this poor dog.”

Mr. Banister refused to comment to The Blade.

“Is every other dog bite in Fulton County quarantined at the pound? No,” Ms. Keating said. “It’s a personal vendetta.”

Ms. Keating initially refused to provide the address of Bosco’s foster home and directed authorities to the Pit Crew’s attorney, Dale Emch. After much back-and-forth, Mr. Emch gave authorities the address Tuesday morning.

“In less than two hours, they were on the property,” Ms. Keating said.

Mr. Bauer and his wife were not home, so the sheriff’s office left a notice. The sheriff’s office returned Wednesday morning with the dog warden and a representative of the health department, requesting the dog be turned over. Ms. Keating said Bosco’s fosters refused, and the county obtained a warrant and seized the dog that afternoon.

“It’s a bunch of nonsense,” Ms. Keating said. “We’re talking about a minor dog bite.”

Ms. Keating provided a copy of the warrant to The Blade. It does not give any background or cite any legal code.

A clerk with the Fulton County Western District Court did not have any information about the case.

Judge Jeffrey Robinson, who signed the warrant, did not return a message from The Blade.

Mr. Banister refused to verbally confirm if Bosco is being held at the county pound. A written public records request subsequently emailed to him by The Blade was not immediately answered.

Ms. Keating said she and her attorney are examining the possibility of filing an ethics complaint with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office as a result of what she believes is inappropriate and direct targeting and discrimination by Mr. Banister.

“It’s misuse of your public office to target an individual or a specific organization because you’re angry,” she said.

(Toledo Blade - Dec 30, 2015)