With the number of home foreclosures on the rise, people are not the only ones being displaced.

As Joel Runck explains, animal shelters in the Twin Ports are seeing an increase in pet drop-offs.

With economic woes taking their toll across the Nation, many homeowners are being forced to give up their pets-not because they want to, but because they can't afford to keep them.

"People are distraught, the animals are sometimes, you know, tugging at the leash trying to follow the family out the door, and people are crying and you know for us it's hard," said Carrie Lane of the Duluth Animal Shelter.

It's also hard for pets without homes.

In 2005, St. Louis County recorded 219 mortgage foreclosure sales.
In 2007, that figure rose nearly 64 percent to 359, according to the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office.

So what does this mean for pets?

"The overall population has not increased. What has increased is the number of pets who are being surrendered due to lack of housing," said Lane.

The Duluth Animal Shelter says that it houses about 40 dogs and 70 cats at any given time.

The situation does not look promising across the bridge either.

"We've been steady full for more than six months with 30 dogs in the shelter, which is very unusual for this time of year," said Sheila Love of the Animal Rescue Federation in Superior. " Last year at this time we probably had six dogs."

Douglas County saw a 38-percent increase in the number of mortgage foreclosures filed from 2005 to 2007, according to the Douglas County Clerk of Courts.

Llike St. Louis County, Love says the economy is playing a huge factor in people deciding to give-up their pets.

"We're seeing an increase in people who are, you know just beside themselves that they just can't, they can't afford to keep the animals," said Love.

At the shelter in Superior, some dogs are being housed two-to-a kennel, and animal officials hope to fix that sooner than later.

"We hope that we can find them a good home-a forever home," said Love.

There is a waiting period of about 24-hours before most shelter animals can be adopted, that's to help prevent potential owners from making impulsive decisions.