In the past week, 87 cats and dogs were taken from two homes in Myrtle Beach. The owners were charged with mistreatment of animals. Those pets are now the responsibility of the Grand Strand Humane Society.
"So we've received in a weeks time almost 100 from hoarding instances," said Sandy Brown with the Grand Strand Humane Society.
Police seized 51 cats and dogs from a home last week and 36 cats Monday from another home.
The humane society is now overrun with animals, housing them in hallways and conference rooms.
"We can't say no," said Brown.
And that's the problem for people considered to be hoarders, they can't say no.
An animal lover himself, Coastal Carolina Psychology Professor Dr. Tony Albiniak understands how having a few pets can easily escalate to an unmanageable situation.
"I wouldn't call them evil people or bad people or even criminal people, they have a fairly severe psychological problem which needs to be addressed," she said.
Dr. Albiniak believes hoarding animals is a form of obsessive compulsive disorder that individuals cannot control, and they really believe they have the animals' best interests at heart.
"They're not lying. They really believe they're taking adequate care of the animals," Dr. Albiniak said.
But when they can't, it becomes the humane society's problem. Brown hopes law enforcement can stop before it gets any worse.
"The laws need to be stricter and the punishments need to be more stringent," says Brown.
The humane society needs kitty litter, dog food, cat food, and newspaper. But most important, they need monetary donations to pay for medicine for the animals.
