Dead raccoon

Just let the dog out the back, and noticed (well the dog showed me) a dead raccoon right next to our house.

Does county animal control remove these? Or am I responsible?

 

I'd call Animal Control so they can check for Rabies.

 

This happened to us. The juvenile raccoon was in the "common area" but very close to the yard. I called the county and was told "if we removed every dead animal people find we'd be busy 24/7". So Wes called the landscapers and they came out and removed it.

The fact that it could have been a rabid raccoon was irrelevant to them!

 

"The fact that it could have been a rabid raccoon was irrelevant to them!"

Well look at it from their standpoint. What good does it do to identify a dead animal with having Rabies? What are they going to do with this information? More importantly, how valuable is this data as compared with the cost of collection?

If someone was potentially infected by the animal when it was alive or infected by it when it is dead, then the proper identification of Rabies is important. In this case, you should properly collect and secure the dead animal for your doctor's/hospital's use. It is not the county's responsibility.

Other than that, the identification of Rabies in a dead animal is a slightly interesting but unactionable piece of data.

Finding one dead Rabid raccoon does not mean that other raccoon's in the area have any higher or lower potential of being infected. All Raccoons in this are have the potential of being infected with Rabies.

What is important for people to realize is that it is very very important that they protect themselves when handling dead wild animals. Besides Rabies there are other diseases that can be picked up when picking up dead animals. Treat every dead animal in your yard as if you know for sure that it is diseased and dispose of it appropriately.

And if you have kids, teach them early and often about the risks of handling live, sick, dying, or dead wild animals.

If you fear that your dog may have been exposed, I would take it to the vet to be checked out. Also, in this case, you should properly collect and secure the dead animal for your vet's use. Again, this is not a county responsibility.

Anyway, I would not be so hard on the County. They need to prioritize their efforts. Spending the time and money to ID rabies in a dead animal when no humans have been exposed is not a good use of resources.

Thousands and thousands of animals die from Rabies every year. The good news is that few of these deaths affect humans. Imagine if the country had to respond to every dead animal. You could not staff a large enough organization for this.

 

I called AC this morning, they said to just double bag and trash it. Been here for around 9 years and have yet to see a dead animal in the yard, did a search here and didn't find anything either. I wasn't sure if they came out for these things or not. Its not a big deal, I'll toss it. I back to Clairborne, poor thing probably got hit.

 

Small dead animals....scoop them up with a shovel, put in garbage bag and leave out with the trash.