Hall County Sheriff K-9's death due to heart failure, not toxins

HALL COUNTY, Ga. (FOX 5 Atlanta) - The Hall County Sheriff's Office now knows how one of its K-9s died.

K-9 Gus died Aug. 13, but the University of Georgia Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories released the cause of his death Monday.

Officials said the bloodhound's death was consistent with a left-sided heart failure. Experts said the development of the failure would have been gradual and wouldn't be noticed until Gus could no longer compensate for it.

The report ruled out toxicity or tumors. There were concerns the K-9 had passed away from coming in contact with toxic blue-green algae in a pond after tracking down a suspect, but those were ruled out.

Gus was laid to rest earlier this month.