A sad case of animal abuse.
Humane officers find two dogs chained to a tree off of Slack Street in Charleston.
One of those dogs was starving to death.

Firefighters had to use a bolt cutter to relieve the strain of a heavy chain and padlock.
The worse of the two, didn't put up a fight when humane officers took him away.
Just a few more days outside and the dog would have died.

The dogs were discovered chained, with no food, frozen water and minimal shelter in what appears to be a homeless community.
Officers did not see anyone around at the time to issue a citation.

The city currently has an anti-tethering law and while not every dog can be saved, many have been and many people have been cited. Later this month a similar law will go into effect in Kanawha County. Animal shelter director Donna Clark says this new law while hopefully prevent more cases like this one.

The law goes into effect February 20th and states it's illegal to continually chain dogs outside in Kanawha County. Dogs can only be tethered for 15 minutes at a time, no more than four times a day.