Who Disposes of Dead Wildlife on Private Property in NY?

Newsflash: there's a ton of wildlife around the Hudson Valley. Even in the more suburban, populated areas, it's not uncommon to see groundhogs, coyotes, or even black bears once in a while.

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With that being said, sometimes accidents happen. Maybe a small critter had an unfortunate run-in with a black bear. Or, maybe your family dog got a little overzealous in protecting your home and caused the early expiration of some wildlife crossing through your yard.

Either way, sometimes you end up with dead wildlife in your yard. It's not pleasant, but in the event that you do happen to find a deceased animal on your property, how are you supposed to get rid of it?

One Hudson Valley Facebook Group recently faced this very question and the responses are pretty, well, here's a preview.

The exact question posed was regarding a deceased groundhog being discovered in the yard.

"Any ideas how we can get rid of [the dead groundhog] other than just the garbage can?"

Hudson Valley residents began chiming in right away.

The most popular suggestion involved bringing the groundhog into a wooded area and allowing the circle of life to take care of the deceased critter.

We'd be remiss not to share this creative suggestion:

"You could bring it down to the river and put it on a little raft, douse it in a flammable liquid, set it afloat, light it on fire. Viking Funeral" - John F.

What to Do About Deceased Wildlife on Your Yard in New York

While a Viking funeral is an absolutely epic way to go, surely there's a less-involved way to remove wildlife from your property, right?

Well, it's actually not that straightforward.

The first step you can take is to report the deceased wildlife. You can report the deceased animal to your local health department, police department, or county animal service which we'll touch on momentarily.

Depending on what kind of animal and what state it appears to be in, you can call the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). They specialize in investigating deceased animal patterns and look specifically for deceased bobcats, otters, fishers, weasels, minks, bald eagles, peregrine falcons, extremely thin deer, and a variety of other specialized animals.

If the deceased animal on your property doesn't fall into the animals of interest for the DEC, your next move is really going to depend on where you live. One resident responded to the above Facebook questions with, "Get it to the front on your STREET....then call the town! Must be on the STREET!!!" and they're not wrong in most cases.

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A number of towns in the Hudson Valley will remove small deceased animals if they are found on a city or town street or sidewalk. Most will not enter your home or come on your property.

As stated by AAAnimal Control, most counties have some kind of wild animal service hotline you can call if the animal on your property is too large to move to the curb.

Beyond that, the residents in the Facebook group comments truly aren't that out of range by suggesting the corpse be unleashed into nature's lifecycle.