Dead Animal In Attic – Humane Wildlife Removal

What to do if there's a dead animal in your attic?

The last thing a homeowner wants to find in their house is a wild creature, and there are many natural pests that regularly invade homes throughout North America. This is especially the case in the colder months when animals look for reliable sources of food and warm shelter, which inevitably brings them into our homes.

Whilst there are some creatures that will cause relatively little damage, some can become a nuisance and cause extensive damage if left alone for too long. This can range from chew marks on clothing to the weakening of your home’s structural integrity and even hidden fires. The costs of removing animals from your home, repairing the damage, and then installing measures to keep future infestations at bay, can quickly ramp up.

There are many good quality companies across the country that will properly handle your pest situation. But unfortunately, some pest control services choose to take the easy route, utilizing poisons, other chemicals, or lethal traps to kill the pests in your home rather than using natural methods or live to trap. Depending on the damage inflicted, you may be tempted to hire a company specializing in extermination.

The problem with killing household pests is you then have to contend with the removal of the bodies. Whilst the exterminator will likely do this for you, they can never guarantee the safe removal of every one of the pests. Some, for example, might die within the walls of your home, or under crawl spaces, or in other hard to reach areas.

Attics are notorious for providing shelter for a number of wild animals, and it is common for homeowners to discover dead animals in there which may have died from natural causes or from poisons used by a pest control company. If you do discover a dead animal, you will need to act quickly keep the damage to a minimum. For starters, dead animals can still carry harmful pathogens on their bodies, especially in the form of fleas, ticks, or other parasites.

As they start to decay, a dead animal will start to let off a very foul-smelling odor which will be incredibly unpleasant and can easily spread throughout your home. As well as this, the corpse will start to attract flies, maggots, and cockroaches which will also need removing and make the experience of handling the body even more horrible. There are many wildlife services that will safely and efficiently remove the animal for you, but if you need to do it yourself you will first need to make sure you have sufficient protective equipment on hand. This means gloves, goggles, and a suitable face mask so that you do not come into contact with the animal at any stage of the removal, either by touch or by breathing in.

Once you have cleared the animal, do a deep clean of the attic, especially where the body was, with disinfectants to kill off any pathogens that might be leftover. Lingering odors can be dealt with using deodorants or increasing ventilation.

Before disposing of the dead animal, however, be sure to first check your state’s laws regarding the removal of carcasses. There are strict rules on how and where you must remove dead animal bodies, and these can vary by different states. For example, you can never dispose of it near bodies of water to avoid contaminating it.