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Stop by the Washington County Fairgrounds horse barns any day in the early morning or late afternoon and you'll no doubt see plenty of cats gathering for breakfast or dinner.

Joyce Vincent said she and other horse owners feed the cats twice daily, then put any leftover food in a container overnight to keep wild animals from coming into the barns.

"But lately we've seen seven skunks and several raccoons in this area that weren't here before people started leaving cat food sit out overnight," she said.

Some of that food comes from Alayne Baldinger of Marietta Township who, along with some friends, have grown concerned about the animals.

"I walk the (River Trail) behind the fairgrounds and see these skinny, hungry and sick cats nearly every day," Baldinger said. "I'll see 20 to 25 cats down there - adults, kittens, all ages.

"My husband trapped some once and took them to the Humane Society (of the Ohio Valley) but the people at the barn have now told us to stay out," she said.

Baldinger said she and several friends feed the cats every day from a bag of dry cat food they keep stashed inside an outhouse located below the barns just off the River Trail.

"We take turns feeding them because I don't think the people at the barns feed them, and we just can't sit by and watch these cats suffer," she said.

If a cat gets sick, Vincent said a horse owner from the barns takes the animal to a veterinarian for treatment, and many of the cats have already been spayed or neutered to help keep the population down.

She said the cats are well cared for and get plenty of food and water daily. But when Baldinger and friends set out more food on the grounds it draws raccoons and skunks to the barns.

"Those animals urinate on hay in the horse stalls and have caused at least one horse to have lepto (leptospirosis) that can cause blindness," said Vincent.

She said horses may also develop Cushing's syndrome, a disease that affects the coat and softens hooves.

Still, Baldinger said she's concerned about inbreeding and the possibility of disease developing among the barn cats, and has contacted the Humane Society of the Ohio Valley about the issue.

Steve Herron, shelter manager at the local Humane Society office, said if requested by the fair board, the agency could trap the animals and take them to the shelter, but the Humane Society has no authority to go after the cats on its own.

"But our humane officer said he has seen the cats and that they are being fed and cared for," Herron said. "I would just encourage the owners to have them spayed and neutered to help control the population."

Washington County Fair Board President Steve Tornes said the horse barns have always had a large population of cats, and cat owners often drop litters of kittens off at the barns without notifying anyone.

"The people at the barns feed them, and it's not something we can control," he said.