VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Hope for Life is a no-kill shelter in Virginia Beach that rescues abandoned, abused, or neglected animals, but one rescue operation has overwhelmed the facility.

On average, Hope for Life brings in 1,200 animals a year. Recently, they got involved with a hoarding situation in North Carolina that flooded their facility with dogs.

“The expenses, medically, were beyond anything that we could have even imagined to save the lives of some of these animals,” said Hope for Life Founder and Director Pauline Cushman.

They reached capacity after taking in 18 of the more than 20 dogs inside the house. Cushman said animal control also discovered deceased dogs inside.

“It’s heart wrenching,” she said.

Now, they’re caring for these dogs, on top of so many other animals that need medical care.

“We have animals that are currently in the vet’s offices having eye enucleations,” Cushman said. “We have one little dog having a cancerous tumor removed from his arm.”

The emotional toll is high, especially, she said, with the puppies.

“These guys are only four-weeks-old,” she said. “And we posted a live video when they came in of the fleas crawling all over these puppies, so they needed a blood transfusion to save their lives.”

And some almost didn’t make it.

“One of the dogs that we were going to take out of this particular home, on the day our transporter arrived to pick up the dog, this particular one was living outside, not inside the house,” Cushman said. “And the dog actually collapsed right there on the ground, and we thought she was dead before we even got her to the vet, but she made it. She made it.”

Now, $250,000 in vet bills later, they’re hoping the community will come to their aid.

“What we’re hoping is that maybe some businesses in the community might step up and make a donation to help,” she said.

They also need families to foster these dogs or adopt them, or even to come walk them in the afternoon at the shelter — just to help in any way. They’ve had to stop intake of any more animals until they raise at least $30,000.

If you’d like to donate or help out, visit https://www.hopeforliferescue.com/.