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Dead Animal Removal can be a very difficult job due to some areas having laws that designate where and how a wild animal is removed. Nuisance Wildlife Rangers handles Dead Animal Removal throughout Central Florida including Dead Animal Removal, Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, West Palm Beach, Port St. Lucie, and the surrounding areas. We are expertly trained and specially equipped to handle all types of Wildlife Removal.

A foul odor is typically the first sign that there is a dead animal on or under your property. When an animal is wounded or sick, its first instinct is to find somewhere place to hide. This leads to them hiding under your porch, in your attic, on your roof, and in the walls.

Mothballs are commonly found in homes when we are inspecting for a dead animal. The use of mothballs and other repellents typically fails when trying to remove the smell of the dead animal and is not a legal repellent for wildlife removal. The surest way to get rid of a Dead Animal Removal Problem is by physically removing the dead animal.

Dead Animal Removal isn’t always a simple process since it includes crawling into tight, cramped spaces in potentially hazardous conditions. The dead animal must be found, removed, and properly disposed of before the area is cleaned and decontaminated. The decontamination process is critical to perform to ensure that the area is sealed from any further wildlife infestations.

Call Nuisance Wildlife Rangers for Complete Dead Animal Removal Solutions!

Dead Animal Removal Process

No one wants a dead animal around. They can be very disgusting and will produce a foul odor. That smell might be enough to make your home unbearable. On top of that, dead animals can present a health hazard for families and pets.

Unfortunately, if a wild animal dies inside your home, you probably won’t know about it until the smell becomes a real problem. At this point, you need to take swift action because that carcass has likely been decomposing for a while already.

If the animal dies in your yard, it’s a less immediate problem but it should still be addressed as quickly as possible. Dead animals attract all kinds of scavengers and insects, and you don’t want them hanging around your property.

At Nuisance Wildlife Rangers, we are dead animal removal experts. We can give you some practical tips if you want to tackle this challenge yourself.

Dead Animal Health Hazards

First and foremost, dead animals can be a danger to your health and the health of your family. We strongly recommend protecting yourself before you attempt to remove a dead animal carcass. That means wearing rubber gloves, safety glasses, long sleeves and long pants, and even a mask.

The health dangers of having a dead animal around your home or yard will only get worse the longer the carcass remains on your property. In the worst cases, the animal’s fluids might begin to leak out as the carcass decomposes. This can have serious health consequences if those fluids make their way into your water system.

Dead animals also attract a lot of nasty bugs – flies, maggots, worms, you name it. You don’t want these around your home because they can bring in other health hazards. Additionally, decomposing carcasses will attract scavengers. These animals can be dangerous in their own way, so it’s best to avoid attracting them in the first place.

How to Find a Dead Animal in Your House

If you have a strong dead animal smell in your house, then you probably already have a rough idea of where the carcass is located. Pinpointing its location is the first step to removal. In many cases, this is not so simple. If the animal dies inside your walls or in a very tight space, you might find yourself involved in a very unpleasant scavenger hunt.

At Nuisance Wildlife Rangers, we recommend that you first check under your home if it’s elevated, or in the basement. If you don’t find anything there, check the attic or crawlspace. More commonly, you will find Dead Animal in the attic. We know this is gross, but using your nose to figure out where the smell is strongest is really your best tool.

Remember to look in every gap or tight area – make sure you have a headlamp or flashlight handy. If you still don’t find anything, go back to the source of where the smell is strongest. If the animal is inside your walls, your only option is to use your nose to find it.

Once you narrow it down, carefully use a drywall saw to cut a hole in your wall. You might have to cut a few holes until you find the precise location of the carcass.

How to Remove a Dead Animal Carcass

Once you locate the carcass, removal is actually quite easy (but it won’t be pleasant). Nuisance Wildlife Rangers are dead animal removal experts. If you want to save yourself the hassle and disgust, hire a professional.

We strongly recommend using rubber gloves at a minimum to protect yourself from any contaminants. Carefully remove the carcass and place it in a plastic bag – the stronger the better. Make sure that bag has no holes in it!

At this point, you can dispose of the carcass. For something small like a squirrel or rat, you can simply throw the bag in with your household trash for curbside pickup. However, for larger animals like raccoons and opossums, you should either bury the carcass or incinerate it. In any case, check your local rules and regulations to make sure you don’t get in any trouble.

Once you are done handling the dead animal, you should immediately discard any gloves or masks you used. You should remove the clothes you wore and wash them apart from your other clothing. We also suggest that you immediately take a shower to remove any contaminants that may have landed on you.

Why is it important to clean the attic after finding a dead animal?

Most homeowners consider wildlife removal a vital imperative in the proper running of their household. Yet few pay any mind to the equally important clean-up and sanitation process necessary after removing a wild animal from their property. In this post, we’ll talk a little more about that – why you need to clean up after you find a dead (or live) animal on your property, and how to do that.

First off, why are there dead animals in your attic?

The attic is famous for attracting nuisance wildlife for a number of reasons. First off, it’s harder for you, the homeowner, to spot potential entry points (i.e. missing shingles on the roof, holes in the wall, or broken windows) since you don’t spend that much time up there.

Second, since the attic is uninhabited, it drastically reduces the animal’s chances of discovery. And last, since most people use the attic as a storage space, this provides animals with plenty of choices for nesting and hiding space.

Dead animals in your attic may be due to a number of reasons. It might’ve been a natural death, or the animal might have been attacked by a predator (or poisoned by a neighbor) and sought shelter while it was weakened. In some cases, it can be that the animal got into your attic, and then became trapped, and starved.

Whatever the reason is, it’s imperative to remove a dead animal as soon as you discover it, or else you risk attracting other animals through the smell.

Why the clean-up is super important

Even if the animal is dead and no longer a threat, you need to keep in mind that the attic may be littered with the animal’s droppings, urine, shed fur, and even blood. All of these can expose you and your family to the broad range of bacteria and viruses that the animal carries.

This is also why it’s important to wear adequate protective gear while cleaning up the attic, to prevent contamination. If you insist on handling the clean-up yourself, make sure you have a face mask and rubber gloves, and avoid eye or mouth contact.

It’s important to properly disinfect the entire attic, remove any potential health hazards, and make the attic inhabitable again.

What’s more, clean-up is also really important because it allows you to do a more in-depth search of the attic. This may unearth other dead animals, or at the very least, the animal’s entry point. You want to make sure you seal that as swiftly as possible, or else you’re opening up your home to future infestations.

During the cleaning process, you will also find the extent of the damage caused by the nuisance of wildlife. In some cases, this can mean trampled insulation, chewed electrical wires, or damaged support beams. All of these can give rise to other adjacent problems, and need to be fixed or replaced quickly.

Hire a pro.

If you’re not too keen on cleaning and sanitizing and fixing your attic after finding a dead animal, who can blame you? That’s why wildlife removal companies also offer attic restoration and clean-up services. That way, you can leave it up to a professional to restore your attic to its former state.

While some homeowners believe it’s cheaper to try DIY attic clean-up, when you add up the time, effort, cleaning supplies, protective gear, and so on, necessary for a full, proper clean-up, you might find yourself at a disadvantage.

For many, hiring a wildlife removal service to professionally clean their attic is the easier, more cost-effective choice. Whichever you go with, do not neglect the need for proper attic clean-up.