A mother and three sisters in South Carolina have been charged with ill treatment of animals and failure to bury animals properly after deputies discovered more than 80 dead in their home.

Laurens County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Judy Stiles told WYFF that deputies were in the process of evicting 58-year-old Rebecca Keith, 33-year-old Amanda Keith and 31-year-old Sarah Keith over the weekend when they came across dozens of dead animals, including “[d]ogs, cats, birds and even baby deer.”

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“We came in to clean up the kitchen, there was a dead bird in the kitchen, it was half rotten,” landlord Jason English explained to the station. “We opened up the freezer. Inside the freezer, unwrapped, unprotected — anything — laying next to their own food, were ducks, baby deer, hatchlings — just came out of the egg. And they had like cups with dozens of baby chickens in it. Inside the rooms, they had ferrets.”

But the women insisted to WYFF that they loved the animals and were only storing them so they could dispose of them properly.

“You know, I’m guilty of some of it, but as far as the ill treatment and everything, I was feeding and everything,” Amanda Keith said defiantly. “Some of them was just — you know, every time we moved, we thought we’d stay and we could bury them. And every time, you know, certain ones we thought we could cremate. And it’s just like, one thing led to another and we never could.”

And Amanda Keith speculated to WHNS that the family had been framed.

“There was not, there was not 80,” she remarked. “Where they got 80 I don’t know; they’re trumped up charges! It has been put here, that was not here.”

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All three women were released on bond, but their live pets were confiscated by authorities.

As the landlord, Jason English is responsible for the cost of cleaning up his property, which he said was in ruins.

Watch the video below from WHNS, broadcast May 27, 2013.

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FOX Carolina 21

Watch the video below from WYFF, broadcast May 27, 2013.

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Watch this video from , broadcast May 28, 2013.