Dog found curled up, 'frozen solid' on man's front porch

An Ohio man is under investigation after one of his dogs was found frozen to death on the front porch of his home.

The Toledo Area Human Society said the 3-year-old female American bully, named Nanas, was found earlier this week curled up and "frozen solid" at a King Street home.

Another dog, a 4-year-old male bully named Haze, was discovered inside the house shivering from the cold temperatures.

Megan Brown, a cruelty investigator with the humane society, told The Toledo Blade that Haze is malnourished and extremely underweight. He's been taken to a shelter.

Brown said she's not sure how long Nanas had been outside in the freezing cold temperatures, but the animal was "frozen solid" when she was found.

Stephen Heaven, the President/CEO of the Toledo Area Humane Society, told WTVG that a blanket and pillow were on the front porch of the home.

"It looks as if she had been attempting to get under a blanket or the blanket had blown off," Heaven said. "It's a very needless death."

Brown said neither dog had any food or water, and she's not sure if Nanas had any health issues before her death.

"She didn't appear to be in poor health, but it's hard to tell when she's curled up and frozen," Brown told the Blade.

The owner of the dogs, Victor Vallejo Sr., told the outlet that he recently fell upon hard times and the utilities had been shut off at the house.

The 40-year-old man said he wasn't staying at his house but would check on the dogs to make sure they had food and water.

"I wasn't staying there, but I was going back and forth feeding them," he said. "They had plenty of food and water. I've been staying here and there at the moment. I kind of fell on some bad times."

Vallejo said he has no idea how Nanas got outside because "everything was locked up tight."

Records show that Vallejo had several issues in the past with the animals.

In August, Nanas got loose and wasn't found until a month later when a citizen brought her in to a shelter. An evaluation revealed the dog had flees and swollen ears.

In October, Vallejo was cited when a canine control officer saw Nanas running down the street.

The humane society said its pursuing animal cruelty charges against Vallejo.

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