How to Handle A Dead Animal

From time to time, and throughout different times of the year, you could experience finding a dead animal on your property. It could be a dead animal that you have found in your yard, or perhaps an animal that made its way into your home and then died. From finding a dead raccoon in your chimney, to finding a dead bird on your patio or some roadkill on your driveway, you need to know what to do. There are a few options that can arise, but you need to make sure that you are calm, and handle the dead removal in a safe way.

Roadkill

Even if you live in an urban area, you can still find animals that dart out in front of cars, resulting in roadkill. This means any wild animal that has been killed on the road, but often, roadkill can be right by your house or driveway. If not removed and cleared fairly quickly, then it can lead to a range of pests interested in it, which is not going to be healthy, and swarms of flies and maggots aren’t something that you will want to have at the end of your driveway. If you find roadkill on your property or driveway, then it can be best to get in touch with your local authority.

Roadkill can often be large, in the case of things like deer and unfortunately, even dogs, and for your own safety you shouldn’t attempt to lift any large dead animals. Search for your local authority online, and they will have a team who can come to remove the animal. By law, you should report any injured animals or dead wildlife, and you should do that by contacting your local or state wildlife offices. You could also contact SWAT Wildlife, who are experienced in this and are experts at the safe removal of dead animals.

Dead animals on your property

If you find a dead animal on your property, then you might want to attempt to remove the animal yourself. However, if you choose to do this, you will need a range of supplies. Many wild animals carry with them pests and diseases that can be harmful to humans, so it is important to make sure that you are prepared. The things that you will need to remove a dead animal from your property are:

• Face mask
• Thick gloves
• Shovel
• Hose
• Ziploc bag
• Plastic grocery bag or heavy duty garbage bag (this will depend on the size of the animal)

The first thing that you need to do, before coming in contact with the dead animal is to make sure that you are wearing a face mask and that you are wearing gloves. This will stop you from breathing anything in or getting the animal’s germs and bacteria on you. If necessary due to the animal’s size, it is a good idea to use the shovel to put the animal into a bag, and then make sure that the bag is tied securely shut. You may need to use more than one bag, placing one into the other, if the dead animal is quite heavy and you don’t think the bag will hold the weight.

This keeps the dead animal contained, but the next step is to clean the area where the dead animal was. Bacteria, germs, feces, and bugs could be in the area, especially if an animal has been there overnight and found in the morning, for example. So the next step is to clean the area, starting by hosing it down or wiping the area, depending if it is inside or outside. There could be some remnants of the dead animal on the spot where you found them, so cleaning away all traces is a must. Using a disinfectant can help to ensure a good clean of the area, whether inside or outside, and especially if the animal was found in a room like the kitchen. In fact, if found indoors, a whole deep clean of the house is recommended.

Any small animals that you find could be buried in your backyard, if you are happy to go ahead with that. For anything larger, it is a suggestion to take it to a local waste collection center. Don’t just throw in your garbage. This can lead to more germs and spread of disease, and can be very smelly, especially in the summer months. Of course, after dealing with the dead animal, you need to wash your hands and dispose of (or wash), the mask and gloves that were used.

Call in the professionals

Ultimately, removing dead animals from your property can be quite dangerous, so calling in some professionals who have the expertise and experience to get it done safely is a much better option. For anything from racoon removal to squirrel removal, calling in professionals like us as SWAT Wildlife, can help. Removing dead animals from your property in a clean, safe, and humane way is what we do. With our experienced professionals, you can ensure that the removal is done quickly and safely, with a team of people who are well-trained and prepared, no matter how unique the dead animal removal job is. From attics to sheds, chimneys, and patios, we will be able to remove the dead animal.

Our dead animal removal service means the removal and disposal of the dead animal, as well as disinfecting and deodorizing of the space. So no matter if the dead animal was found in your home or outside of your home, we can make sure that it is back to being a clean and safe place for all of the family. We treat all of our customers as family, and wouldn’t leave the property or space in a condition worse than it was found, so you can rely on us.

For more information on what we do, or to arrange a dead animal removal, give our team a call today. We look forward to taking your call and serving you.