In recent months the Riverside County Animal Shelter has seen husky after husky come in through their doors. Now the staff is saying it may have something to do with HBO’s “Game Of Thrones.”

The huskies continue to come in to the Riverside County Animal Shelter. At one point 47 were being housed there.

“That’s when we started to wonder what was going on because it was hard to keep up with so many,” said Jackie Schart, animal services chief for the Riverside County Animal Shelter.

Staff at the shelter began seeing 10 huskies a week. At that point they knew they had a problem.

“We started looking in the kennels and the staff was presented with a challenge because they need a top for the kennel, so the staff was running out of kennels that had tops on them,” said Schart.

Eventually staff members came up with a theory.

“Anecdotally, staff believes that it has something to do with a popular tv series called “Game Of Thrones.” They use a type of breed that looks very similar to a husky called an Inuit dog which is representing the character of a Direwolf. And the closest you can get to that is a really cute Husky,” said Schart.

It’s not just Riverside County. Animal shelters across the country are experiencing the same thing. People get them as puppies but once they’re full grown, they can be a handful. They’re louder, they howl and they shed.

“Sad thing is a lot of them come in with microchips, they are spay and neutered and owners are not claiming them. So we believe it was a mismatch, people wanted them because of pop culture, and sadly didn’t know what they were getting into,” Schart said.

RIVCO Animal Shelter Sees Influx Of Huskies: “Game Of Thrones” To Blame?