ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Starving dogs and wandering cows are among the cases being handled by the Belmont County Hoof & Paw humane organization.

Hoof & Paw recently brought in three dogs and is on the lookout for another after receiving a call from the Belmont County Sheriff’s Office about very thin dogs being spotted by deputies.

The sheriff’s office called Hoof & Paw to a house in West Wheeling where a deputy saw a dog hanging by its neck off of a cement wall, not able to reach the ground. That dog is 15 years old and partially blind.

When county Humane Agent Julie Larish arrived at the house, she found three other dogs outside in the cold weather with no boxes or straw to keep them warm. She said all were very thin.

Two of the three dogs Hoof & Paw brought to its kennels from that property had pneumonia and one had Lyme disease, so Hoof & Paw took them to receive veterinary care immediately. Larish is planning to bring another 8-year-old Alaskan Malamute from that site to the kennels as soon as a dog is adopted from Hoof & Paw. The Malamute is not in a kennel due to the organization’s overcrowding issue; instead it is still at the house, where a neighbor is stopping daily to feed it. Larish said Malamutes can withstand cold weather better than the other dogs.

The woman who owns the dogs left the residence and only stays there occasionally. She surrendered the dogs to Hoof & Paw.

The dogs with Lyme disease and pneumonia are being treated with medication.

Once the dogs are brought back to health, they will be available for adoption. The youngest one of the three dogs is an 8-year old black Labrador retriever who Larish said is bouncing back really well. The 15-year-old coonhound mix who is partially blind and also has pneumonia has wheezing that is continuing, so he will be going back to the vet to see if something more is going on. The other dog is a 10-year-old Chihuahua mix that is gaining her weight back well, according to Larish.

Larish regularly brings dogs in because people are breaking the law when they neglect and abuse animals, leaving them to suffer. Hoof & Paw prosecutes cases after investigating.

“It’s very important to get them in here and get them back to health and get them out into healthy homes,” Larish said. “I know a lot of people make fun of me for this, but this, for me, is my way of doing for God saving my life, and I promised I would never see a child or an animal be abused again.”

Larish said she is finding more information about this case as she investigates.

Meanwhile, Larish is also warning people to watch out for wandering cows on Ohio 800 in Somerton. She said she understands that keeping cows confined can be difficult at times because they are notorious for going through fence lines.

However, in another case Hoof & Paw is dealing with, cows on a property in the Somerton area have been getting out for years. Larish said the problem is that the cows are no longer going into yards and the woods but onto Ohio 800. One person already struck a cow on the road and totaled their truck, but the driver was not injured.

Larish warns people to be careful, especially at night because the cows are black. They are frequently found on Somerton Highway around the Flat Rock area.

Hoof & Paw has an open case against Ralph McGinnis, the owner of the cows, in Belmont County Western Division Court. McGinnis is facing charges that include five counts of animals running at large on public roads, and Hoof & Paw is asking for restitution for the insurance company that covered the truck that hit the cow.