Dead Raccoon

Frequently while working with wild animals, we receive calls about dead animals. One lady called us from Salt Lake City, UT, particularly about a dead raccoon.
The raccoon was wandering around by the end of her driveway. The first time she walked by the raccoon, it was walking normally, but she walked by later on and found the raccoon lying on its side. It appeared that the raccoon was not breathing, but she was not sure if it was dead or not. She did not want to get too close and she definitely did not want to leave it there for the rats, owls, birds, flies, etc.
Taking care of dead animals is one of the aspects of our job, and we remove many dead wild animals. You can either remove the dead animal or you can let nature take its course and slowly have the animal disappear a little each day. If you leave a dead animal (in this case a raccoon) on your property there will be maggots, rats, and all sorts of unwanted insects/animals that will eventually remove the animal from your property.  This process could take months depending on the size of the animal.
Animal removal for us is routine and we have completed this task many times.  Some property owners choose to remove the animal themselves. Removing the dead animal is usually the best method, unless you have a large piece of property at let it rot, but if you do be prepared for a terrible stink.