LINCOLN COUNTY, N.C. -- A family charged with cruelty to animals could soon have to foot the bill for the animals' care.

The bill is expected to be thousands of dollars and could be sent to the Rauch family as soon as next week.

Authorities seized nearly 400 animals from the Rauch home this summer, claiming they were sick, malnourished and living in squalor.

Lincoln County is going over the cost of caring for them. The animals are in foster care until the case is settled in court.

Vicki Rauch claims she was saving animals no one else wanted or animals that would have been euthanized.