Outdoor recovery
Something is dead outside and it is on your land
Dead Animal Pickup and Carcass Removal
Outdoor removal is the most straightforward work Allentown Dead Animal Removal does. The complications are almost always access and how long the animal has been there.
What we pick up
The animals this covers
Groundhog, opossum, raccoon, skunk, squirrel, rat, cat, and birds. Anything larger than that, particularly deer, is covered on the deer page because the equipment and the rules differ.
Open ground
Lawn, garden bed, driveway or field edge. Visible, reachable and quick.
Under a deck or porch
The most common awkward one. Usually a board or a lattice panel comes off and goes back on.
Under a shed or slab
Groundhogs den under outbuildings and die there. Tight clearance is the constraint rather than the animal itself.
Window wells and drains
Small animals fall in and cannot climb out. Easy to reach, easy to miss for weeks.
Why waiting costs more
Time changes the job
A recent carcass is a lift and a bag. After several days in warm weather it is a lift, a bag, a saturated patch of ground and a fly population that has already started a second generation. The work grows, and so does what has to be treated afterward. On concrete a delay also means staining that takes real cleaning rather than a rinse.
If the animal is somewhere you cannot see and you are working from smell alone, start with tracing the odor instead.
Whose job is it
Public ground versus your ground
An animal in a street, a park or another public space is a report rather than a purchase. Allentown publishes 610-437-8729 for the Office of Animal Control, which covers roadkill on weekdays between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., and the 311 Citizen Problem Reporter carries a Dead Animal option. State roads are PennDOT instead, on 1-800-FIX-ROAD.
Your own property is worth asking about too. The city's 311 form asks whether the animal is on your property and whether they have permission to collect it, so a straightforward yard pickup may not need us at all. What it does not cover is business hours, a stated response time, or anything that has to be reached under a deck or through a wall.
Straight answers
Common questions
Can I just bag it and put it in the trash?
Household waste rules vary by hauler and municipality, and some prohibit animal carcasses outright. Check before you assume, and note that bagging a decomposed animal is a worse job than most people expect.
It is under my deck and I cannot reach it.
That is the usual version of this call. Access normally means removing a board or a lattice panel, which we put back. Reaching in blind with a rake tends to make the mess larger and pushes the animal further under.
Do you handle pets?
Yes, and we treat that call differently. If you would rather not be present or would prefer specific handling, say so when you call and we will work around it.
There are several, not one.
That usually points to something other than natural causes, such as poisoning or a den site that has failed. Worth mentioning on the phone because it changes what we look for while we are there.
Do you take care of the mess left on the ground?
Yes. The carcass and the ground it saturated are both dealt with. On grass or soil that means treating the area, on concrete it means cleaning the slab.