At that time, the county spent about $8,000 cleaning the man's house, relocating the animals, making sure the man had meals accessible to him and even giving him prime seats for a Utah Jazz game, he said. But a little over a year later, he had fallen back into his old habits.

The man was believed to have received most of his pets at a local library where people who didn't want or were not able to care for their pets gave them away for free, according to Woods.

The man used to live with his mother, who died about 25 years ago, said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. John Barker. Since then, he has lived alone. The problem, said Davis, was that the man needed a legal guardian.

The man was expected to be taken by paramedics for a mental evaluation. No arrests were expected in the case. Davis and law enforcers said the best thing officials could do at this point was find help for him.

"It's going to happen again," Davis said. "It's the mindset of a hoarder. It's an illness."

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