"We were afraid they weren't gonna make it," says Tricia Krause, who volunteers for the Branson Tri-Lakes Humane Society.

Six weeks ago, six cats showed up on the shelter's doorstep.

"One of our mama cats, with five kittens, when they were barely two weeks old, was dropped off," says Krause.

Now, Lexie and her five kittens are waiting to be adopted. Since it's a no-kill shelter, they'll stay there as long as it takes.

"We keep them if they don't get adopted. Some have been here since '04," says Krause.

It's becoming a big problem for the shelter. It costs $15 to drop off a cat or dog. many are forgoing that fee by simply dumping their animals at shelters across the country.

"We're the ones that take care of the cost. We take care of the cost anyway, but the $15 really helps," says Krause.

"It's started really escalating this winter," says Krause.

...especially when the economy took a nose-dive.

"Now we're getting a lot of animals that you can tell were in homes and being taken care of at one time," says Richard Witthuhn, the Reeds Spring Police Chief.

It's also a problem for law enforcement.

"A lot of times animals are dropped off and they wander into town. So, there's days we get 4 or 5 at a time," says Witthuhn.

Because there isn't animal control in stone county, many departments take strays to the humane society.

"They get so many animals, they're full a lot of times," says Witthuhn.

The county's tried to approve a tax for animal control twice, but it's failed twice.

"The citizens are going to have to realize, if they want the animals picked up, they have to pay for it," says Witthuhn.

Or, maybe an easier solution...

"If you can't keep the animals, do the responsible thing and take them to a shelter that can take them. Don't just dump them. That's crueler than putting them down," says Witthuhn.

Some good news from the shelter: its new website is helping more animals find homes.

In the week its been up and running, it's led to six animal adoptions.

Contact: dmagditch@kspr.com