Animals taken from Hillyard home

Old cars, junk and personal possessions litter the area around a tiny Hillyard home where dozens of animals were removed Wednesday, Feb. 8.

Marilyn Meyer of SpokAnimal hauls pet carriers into the cluttered yard of a Hillyard home where dozens of animals were removed under a warrant Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012.

A SpokAnimal worker in a hazardous materials suit and respirator, carries a cat in a carrier from the basement of a dilapidated house in Hillyard Wednesday, Feb. 8.

Cats look out of carriers stacked in a SpokAnimal van Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012 outside a home in Hillyard.

Dozens of cats and dogs were removed from this tiny house in Hillyard, where the squalor and neglect shocked the animal control officers when they arrived.

In the cluttered yard around Marsha Erskin’s Hillyard home, cat and dog feces are piled on every surface from the many animals kept there. The animals were removed by animal control officers Wednesday, Feb. 8.

Marilyn Meyer, right, of Spokanimal labels a pet carrier to identify the animal removed Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012 from a tiny Hillyard home filled with dozens of animals and squalor. Animal control officers wore hazardous materials suits and respirators to go inside the home because of the amount of feces in the home.

SpokAnimal officer David Walker, left, explains to Reedie Dodd, right, what will happen to the animals removed from the home of Marsha Erskin, Dodd’s sister, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012 in Hillyard. Dodd owned a few of the animals taken from the home.

Marsha Erskin, center, learns about the confiscation of her many animals from a SpokAnimal officer, left, in a hazardous materials suit Wednesday, Feb. 8.

A collie found to be very skinny and with many clumps in its coat resists being placed in a SpokAnimal van by officers who took dozens of animals into custody Wednesday, Feb. 8.