There are very few things I can think of that are worse than finding a dead animal in your yard. Animals are riddled with diseases and they can stink up an area in no time! When animals die, it is extremely important to get them taken care of as soon as possible! Failure to take care of a dead animal can lead to disastrous consequences! The scent of a dead animal can lead to other dangerous predators making their way into your yard. The last thing any of us want is to have dangerous animals hanging around our homes.
Dead animals can be carriers for a great plethora of diseases. Diseases such as rabies, bubonic plague, and West Nile encephalitis have all been found on dead animals of all breeds. Even though we may have treatments for diseases like these, would you ever want to take the chance? Now that we’ve gone over a few of the dangers that dead animals can pose when they’ve been found on your property, let’s talk about the best way to take care of them.
There are several courses of action that could be taken to remove dead animals. The first would be to call the state health and safety department, this will ensure that they dispose of the carcass in a safe manner. Another way (depending on the size of the animal) would be trash disposal. For many, this is the preferred method. Using a shovel and gloves, carefully place the dead animal in a garbage bag. It is often easier if you “double-wrap” the dead animal. You can then place the animal in the garbage cans or dumpsters in your neighborhood. The final option, and probably best way, is to call a local exterminator or trapper. They will take care of the mess for you and ensure that the animal is disposed of properly. They may also offer cleaning and sanitizing services depending on the situation.
Please remember that if you are going to take care of the body on your own, WEAR GLOVES! It is extremely important that you wash your hands, wear gloves, and avoid touching the animal at all costs. Even though the animal is dead, the bacteria and viruses that the animal carried can still be a threat to you and your health. Make sure that the tools you use to dispose of the animal are properly cleaned after the removal takes place. Take care to clean the clothes you were wearing when disposing of the animal, just as a precaution.
Tag Archives: dead animal
How long does a dead animal smell?
I consider myself a pretty intelligent person, but I have absolutely no idea how long a dead animal smells. You might wonder why that would even come up, but unless you’re really into death, there’s really only one reason a person would need to know how long does a dead animal smell. It’s because there’s a dead animal in my wall.
I’ve been extremely busy lately, finishing up my master’s program. I’ve got my classes, my school work, my full-time job, and my internship, so I don’t spend a lot of time at home. Pretty much, I’m just at home to study and sleep, and sometimes I’ll grab something out of the fridge to eat. Otherwise, I’m at school or at work and eating in the car or with one of my friends in the same masters program.
So, you can imagine my surprise when I walked in the apartment and was knocked over by the most atrocious smell I’d ever had the displeasure of smelling in my short lifetime. Now, I haven’t noticed anything like rats in the apartment or mouse droppings or anything else, so it took me a while to even consider the fact it might be a dead animal in the wall. I scoured the apartment that evening, despite my desperate need to get more work done. I just couldn’t focus on anything other than finding the source of the stench, and wondering how long does a dead animal smell.
I figured a dead animal will smell as it rots, so until it’s completely rotted or desiccated, it will stink up the place. Of course, this happened in the early spring, which made me grateful for small favors. What if this had happened in the summer? Summers can get pretty intense around here, and if you added in humidity, I’m sure the smell would have been even worse. As it was, it was awful, and I needed to do something fast.
I finally determined the smell was not food rotting in the kitchen or a forgotten sandwich in the bedroom, and that the smell was coming from the living room, which was a sparse room that was hardly ever used. I noticed there were several flies in that room, too, which had completely ignored the forgotten bedroom-sandwich and were focused instead on a patch of wall. Sniffing warily, I convinced myself the smell was stronger there than anywhere else. That’s when I finally realized it must be a dead animal in the wall.
How long does a dead animal smell? I wasn’t sure how long the smell had been there. Obviously, it had gotten progressively worse, but I had been too busy, and wasn’t home enough to notice before that night.
Well, it wasn’t too late to call up a friend and spend the night over there. In the morning, I’d get the apartment manager to get someone to remove the dead animal out of the wall. Hopefully, they’d do it fast enough that I wouldn’t have to find out the answer to the burning question, how long does a dead animal smell.
Dead Animal
“There’s a dead animal in the house.” The thought hit Lindsey right after the smell did.
She’d struggled into the house, grocery bags draped 5 deep on each arm, purse slipping off her shoulder and one shoe threatening to slip off her foot. With the talent many women possess, she had managed to get the correct key in the lock and shove the stubborn door open without breaking a single egg. That’s when the smell hit her full in the face.
It was an odor the family had been gradually noticing. At first, Lindsey made the rounds through the house, making sure no food was rotting in anyone’s bedroom and emptying every garbage can. Then, her oldest thought it was a backed-up sewer, since the smell seemed stronger in the little hallway that led to the laundry room and half bath. She’d asked her ex-husband to take a look at it, and he’d reluctantly come over, but he hadn’t found anything wrong with the sewer pipes. He’d also suggested, rather grumpily, that she call a professional next time she needed help with the house. That suited her just fine.
Her teenage daughter had brought a friend home, who had no reservations about expressing herself. “Ew, your house stinks like garbage!” Her humiliated daughter ended up going to her friend’s house to study.
Lindsey was frustrated. The mystery stench was getting stronger and stronger as each day passed, and nearly 2 weeks had gone by. They’d done spring-cleaning early in an effort to locate the odor’s source. They’d invested in a simple black-light to see if they could find anything on the carpet or tile. It was incredibly frustrating. Lindsey considered herself an excellent homemaker, and was proud of keeping her home tidy and clean. No matter what she did, though, the smell got more and more overpowering.
Nothing makes you more aware of a stench in the house than entering it after being away for the morning on errands. Lindsey had been more than happy to have another excuse to leave the house, just to get away from the smell, but dreaded returning home. When the odor hit her as she struggled inside, the thought had finally come to Lindsey that it must be a dead animal in the home. What if a wild animal crawled inside the wall to die? A dead animal would explain that awful stench that just wouldn’t go away.
The thought of crawling around the insides of her house and possibly coming face to face with a rotting raccoon, dead squirrels, or whatever wild animal had died in her house turned her stomach. No, she decided to take her ex’s advice and call a professional to remove the dead animal.