Animal services

Some things happen in your life so rarely that you really don't know who to call or how to take care of them.  Here's one of those things.

Yesterday evening after dinner we took a walk around the neighborhood -- a favorite warm-weather activity of ours -- and upon our return noticed a strange furry lump in our front yard.  We didn't venture close enough to see if it was a possum or cat or raccoon or what, but the flies buzzing around it were confirmation enough that it was dead.

My first thought was that we'd call our municipality's animal control office to see if they would handle disposal.  But when I checked Conway Animal Welfare's webpage, it was clear that dead animals weren't in their purview -- just live ones.  A little more checking suggested that if we wanted someone else to come and dispose of the carcass, a private enterprise was the only way to go.

Noel made a series of calls this morning, and found no local company who would take the job.  He called the police department since they were listed as the alternative contact when Animal Welfare was closed (as they were today, Presidents Day), and they pointed him to Game & Fish.  Game & Fish, apparently misunderstanding the question, did some asking around and told Noel that he was free to dispose of the animal himself -- thinking that we were wondering if they needed to be notified or do any checking for disease or something.

So Noel armed himself with shovels and bags and other implements and took care of it himself.  (It was a raccoon.  And a big fat heavy one, too.)  Thus ends our adventure trying to figure out how to deal with dead wild animals on our property.  I hope we never have to use this knowledge again, but perhaps it will turn out to be of some use to you.