BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Animals have become another casualty of the mortgage mess as they are left behind and forgotten in foreclosures.

It might sound hard to believe, but some residents are choosing to abandon their pets when they leave their homes.

As foreclosures skyrocket, a lot of people are left without a home. The silent victims are pets that are left behind to fend for themselves.

Cities around the country that have a high foreclosure rates also have their animal shelters filled to capacity.

Denise Haynes of Kern County Animal Control said she has seen more people coming through the doors to the shelters than she has ever seen before.

Real estate agents are usually the first ones to see the pets that are left behind. Betty Byrom of People Realty has seen it here in Bakersfield but says not everybody leaves their pets behind after a foreclosure. “You see a lot of cats abandoned,” she said.

Recently Byrom came across a home that was foreclosed and the home owners left their dog and her puppies in the back yard.

She said she left the animals with water and called the SPCA. “But you think they must not have loved those animals in the first place,” Byrom said.

Some real estate agents speculate that some people leave their pets behind after foreclosure because they are stressed out and have to move into an apartment. Others foreclosed on have taken their pets to an area shelter, which can be equally as stressful.

Anyone moving due to a foreclosure or other any other reason and can't take pets, the animal shelter said they will try to find a new home for their pets.