The increase in mortgage foreclosures may be leading to an increase in abandoned pets, the Chicago Tribune reported today.

"We're seeing people in bad financial situations who are moving to places where they can't have pets," said Angie Wood, assistant executive director of the Naperville Area Humane Society in Illinois. "There definitely has been an increase in the past six months to a year."

The story points out other shelters haven't seen a spike, but as more families get ousted from their homes, it seems a strong possibility that, if it hasn't happened yet, it will.

Authorities in recent months have reported cats, dogs, birds, horses and other animals left abandoned at foreclosed houses and farms, the story reports.

Among the more notorious cases were three dogs and 20 birds in a house in Lorain, Ohio; 24 horses on a farm in Bixby, Okla.; and 63 cats in a house in Cincinnati. It was too late when authorities got to a foreclosed house in Bradford, Pa., to discover the bodies of 21 Great Danes. The owner on Thursday pleaded guilty to 21 counts of animal cruelty.

In the third quarter of 2007, the number of homes in some stage of foreclosure in the U.S. more than doubled from the same period last year -- one of every 196 homes, according to RealtyTrac, an Irvine, Calif., company that tracks mortgage data.

To see the full Chicago Tribune story, click here.