ELKHART CO. — In this extreme cold, some people are deciding they can't or don't want to take care of their pets anymore. That means local animal shelters are filling up quickly. At the Humane Society of Elkhart County, four cats and four dogs were dropped off overnight.

The Humane Society of Elkhart County has nine overnight drop off cages. The indoor cages can be accessed from the outside of the building. But once the door is closed, it locks and cannot be re-opened.

Executive Director Eric Durcinka told WSBT the drop off area was originally designed for emergency situations where somebody has a stray dog and they need to bring it in because they can't hold it.

"Outside of that you can come in the front door and give us the information," said Durcinka. "We'll quickly get you through the process and take the animal."

Durcinka said only about one in every twenty dogs left in the boxes have information cards with them. The cards are for medical information, age and personality traits. That information is vital in deciding what the Humane Society employees do with the animal.

He also said one of the biggest problems he sees is people indiscriminately dropping off the animals with complete disregard for the location where they picked it up.

"It's imperative that the animal returns to a shelter close to where it came from. And far too often, people do not care about that, and they'll just drop off animals from Michigan or that they found while driving through Ohio," Durcinka said.

Extremely cold temperatures can be deadly for animals. Ears and paws are two extremities on dogs that can become frostbitten very easily. There are also legal requirements for pet owners.

"By law you have to provide adequate food, water and shelter for your pets. And a lot of people don't realize that," Durcinka told WSBT.

He said they find an increasing number of dogs left outside on stakes and leashes every year.

If you need to drop off a dog at the Humane Society of Elkhart County, or if you're interested in adopting one, visit their website. You can also call the Humane Society at (574) 848-4225.