Oh god, why is there a dead deer under my deck?

April 15, 2011 7:35 PM

There is a dead deer under my deck. Who do I call to get rid of it?

I don't know the type of listing to look up for "dead and rotting deer removal". I don't want to touch it. Why is it under my deck. Ugh. How do I get rid of it? Is there a normal type of service that people know about? Will they come out on Saturdays?

posted by tylerkaraszewski to Pets & Animals (9 answers total)

Best answer: I did a search for dead animal removal in your area and found a variety of services that will come out and do this for you. Here's one.
posted by katillathehun at 7:44 PM on April 15, 2011

Best answer: In my city, the city's Animal Control dept. will do this for free. Don't know if you have anything similar, but it might be worth checking out. Maybe start by calling a local public animal shelter (which might be more likely to be open on a Saturday) and ask them where to start?
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:46 PM on April 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I would call Animal Control first; some places they do removal, and in places where they don't, they can usually tell you who to call.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:55 PM on April 15, 2011

Response by poster: I probably should have spent some time on google before posting the question. I was in a mild state of disgusted-shock, and came here first. I'll try calling animal control in the morning, and see what they say. I can try calling katillathehun's reference if that fails. Thanks people.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 8:25 PM on April 15, 2011

As to why it is under your deck? Probably dragged there by a large predator, or a small pack of medium-sized predators. What those might be depends on your location, but cougar and coyotes are common culprits.
posted by trinity8-director at 9:51 PM on April 15, 2011

Probably like cats and dogs and whatever, it crawled under there to die.
posted by rhizome at 9:53 PM on April 15, 2011

You might also try your local department of sanitation, though whether you can raise them on a Saturday is perhaps not guaranteed.
posted by Johnny Assay at 5:37 AM on April 16, 2011

I'm sure you've figured something out by this point, but it's worth noting that, in some places anyway, municipal animal control/sanitation doesn't always remove dead animals found on private property. We unfortunately had a feral cat die under our back steps last summer, and the highly sympathetic woman at animal control asked us "Are you sure you didn't find it in the back lane?" several times until we took the hint and moved it there (obviously not an option for something as large as a deer or in a condition where you really wouldn't want to touch it).

I don't really understand how it works, and the idea is pretty revolting to me, but where my dad lives (in quasi-rural southern Ohio), animal control keeps a phone tree of, uh, game meat enthusiasts? whom they call when someone either hits or discovers a (fresh, unmangled) deer.
posted by wreckingball at 11:34 AM on April 16, 2011

When my family lived in Atascadero, CA, there was a lot of road kill. If it was fresh the local zoo would come to pick it up for food for the predators. Granted, this was back in the early 1970s and have no idea if zoos will still do this.
posted by deborah at 3:49 PM on April 16, 2011