Dead Animal Removal in Florida
Private-property removal Β· Phone quote before any visit Β· Independent operators where one covers your address.
Something has died on your property and nobody will tell you whose job it is. That question has a different answer in almost every Florida county, so start by finding out whether you should be paying at all.
- Yards, under decks, crawl spaces, attics, soffits and screen enclosures
- We say so when a free public service covers your situation instead
- No price and no arrival window promised on this page
Who removes a dead animal in Florida?
In most Florida counties, the property owner. Miami-Dade states that owners are responsible for removing dead animals from private property and that Animal Services collects only where the owner is unknown and the animal is on the public right-of-way. Fort Myers says its employees are not allowed on private property. Collier County says it cannot remove deceased animals from private property or within any development. A few places publish something broader, and the county pages name them. Florida Statutes section 823.041 reaches domestic animals only, so free-ranging wildlife sits outside it. Call (305) 745-7414.
What operators take on
Find the one that looks like yours
If you can see what it is
Six animals have their own removal page. Each covers where that animal tends to end up on a Florida property and which check comes first, from FWC's bird reporting app to Key deer in the Lower Keys.
Dead deer
Heavy, awkward, and rarely any public body's job once it is off the road. A deer dead of no obvious cause, and any Key deer, is reported to FWC first.
What this involves →
Dead raccoon
Florida's most often reported rabies carrier, so the first question is whether a person or pet touched it. After that, where it is lying decides the job.
What this involves →
Dead skunk
Florida has two skunks, and FWC still wants one of them reported when found dead. Rabies contact comes first, then the musk, then the reach under a shed.
What this involves →
Dead opossum
Florida's only marsupial, and an animal that can look and smell dead while alive. Check for breathing first, then look for live young before anyone bags it.
What this involves →
Dead squirrel
Usually an attic job. Gray squirrels sometimes move into Florida roof spaces when they find a way in, and a dead one is small and hidden.
What this involves →
Dead bird
A bird dead in a dryer vent, soffit or pool-cage roof is the job here. A single songbird on the lawn you can usually bag yourself.
What this involves →By situation
Every public dead-animal service we found in Florida stops at the same place: a carcass lying in the open, on ground the government is responsible for. These five are what that leaves behind, grouped by how hard the animal is to reach rather than by what it is.
In the yard
The most common call, and the one where it is worth spending two minutes finding out whether somebody will do it for nothing before you pay.
What this involves →
Under the house or deck
The animal is usually reachable. The question is what has to be moved, lifted or unscrewed to get to it, and that is what decides whether this is a job at all.
What this involves →
In the attic
An attic is the one indoor space that is usually enterable without damaging anything, which is why an attic carcass is often solvable and a wall carcass often is not.
What this involves →
Smell, no source
The hardest version of this problem, and the one most often oversold. This page is about what can genuinely be done and where the line is.
What this involves →
Commercial property
Every public service we found in Florida is written for residents. Businesses, landlords, community associations and property managers are outside all of them.
What this involves →Photographs on this site are stock or AI-generated images showing conditions and equipment typical of this work. They are not photographs of jobs carried out by Florida Dead Animal Removal or by any operator, and nothing in them is a claim about who is available in your area.
Recognize your situation?
Describe where the animal is and how close anyone can get to it. That is the whole first conversation, and it usually settles in a couple of minutes whether this is a job at all.
Start here
Three different situations, three different answers
Almost every call comes down to one question: where is the animal lying? That single fact decides who is responsible, and it is worth settling before you spend money.
On your own property
Yours to arrange
A yard, a driveway, under a deck, inside a screen enclosure, a crawl space or an attic. Across the Florida counties we have read, this is the owner's responsibility, and the county will not come onto private land for it. If it is reachable, an independent operator can take it away where one covers the address.
On a road or public ground
Ask the agency first
A city street, a county road, a park or a public right-of-way. Several Florida counties do collect from public ground, often at no charge, but which body is responsible depends on who maintains that particular stretch, and the conditions differ county by county. Find out before you pay anyone, because this is not work you should be buying.
Small, reachable, and you are willing
You may be able to do it yourself
The state wildlife agency publishes a double-bagging method for handling a small carcass, and it ends with putting the bag in your own garbage. That is a disposal instruction, not a collection service: nobody comes out. It is also not true everywhere. Some Florida counties name dead animals as something their cart will not take, so the rule where you live is the one that counts.
By where it is lying
Who is responsible, and where that changes
| Where it is | Who handles it | What that actually means |
|---|---|---|
| Your yard, under a deck, a crawl space or an attic | The property owner | Miami-Dade puts removal from private property on the owner |
| The swale or right-of-way outside your lot | Often the city | Hollywood covers removal from City right of way or swales and leaves private property to the owner |
| A city street | The city | Several Florida cities scope their service to public ground |
| A state road | Routed to FDOT by local agencies | Jacksonville and Miami-Dade publish that route; FDOT does not state the duty on its own site |
| Commercial premises | A private operator | No Florida city or county service examined covers commercial property |
| Wildlife on private land | Not the state | The wildlife agency does not license or run carcass removal for householders |
Worth saying plainly
What this is not
If the animal is on a public road, in a park or on city ground, that is somebody else's job and it is usually free. We would rather point you at the right agency than take money for something the city would have done. A meaningful share of the calls that come in end that way.
If the smell is coming from inside a finished wall and there is no way to the animal except through the drywall, that is not on offer. Removal operators reached through this site do not cut into finished construction to retrieve a carcass, and what usually happens with a smell in a wall is written up separately. We will also not give you a number of days for a smell to clear, in either direction, because no Florida agency publishes one and the research that exists was done outdoors in other climates.
Calls route by ZIP where an operator covers the address. Whether anyone is available for yours is a real question, and it is answered on the call rather than assumed here.
By county
Florida does not have one rule, it has sixty-seven
Neighboring counties contradict each other on this, including on whether a bagged carcass may go in your own cart. We have written up nine of them, quoted and dated, including the places where the public service is better than most people expect.
Florida rules
The reference pages
Who Removes a Dead Animal in Florida
Who is responsible for a dead animal in Florida: private property, city streets, state roads and public ground, answered from each agency's own published page.
Read it →Florida Dead Animal Disposal Rules
What Florida law and county rules actually say about disposing of a dead animal yourself: the statute, burial depths, garbage carts and where the rules conflict.
Read it →Cold-Stunned Iguanas in Florida
Why iguanas fall from trees in a Florida cold snap, why most of them are not dead, and what to do with one that genuinely is.
Read it →Questions people ask before they call
Who picks up when I call this number?
The advertising side of this site, not a field crew. This site sells advertising and routes inquiries to independent removal operators; it employs nobody who handles carcasses. Calls route by ZIP where an operator covers the address. The first thing that happens on a call is working out whether your situation is even a private job, and a fair number of them are not.
Will a Florida county come and take it off my property?
In most counties, no. Miami-Dade states that owners are responsible for removing dead animals from private property. Fort Myers says its employees are not allowed on private property. Collier County says it cannot remove deceased animals from private property or within any development or community. But there are real exceptions, and we name them rather than hide them: Sarasota County, West Palm Beach, Jacksonville and Margate all publish something broader. The county pages set out what each one actually says.
How much does dead animal removal cost in Florida?
There is no price on this site, because the independent operator who takes the job sets it. What moves a quote is the animal's size, where it has ended up, how much has to be moved to reach it, and the disposal route. That gets settled on the call, before anyone sets out, and the operator invoices you directly.
Can I just put it in the trash?
It depends on your county, and Florida counties genuinely contradict each other on this. The state wildlife agency publishes a double-bagging method that ends with placing the bag in the garbage. Cape Coral agrees for small animals. Gainesville, Alachua County and Miami-Dade all publish the opposite. The disposal rules guide sets out who says what.
There is a smell but I cannot find anything. Can that be fixed?
Sometimes, and it depends entirely on where the source is. Attics, soffits, crawl spaces and under decks are usually reachable without damaging anything. A carcass sealed inside a finished wall is different, because removal operators reached through this site do not cut drywall, plaster or ceilings to retrieve one. We also will not give you a number of days for a smell to clear, because no Florida agency publishes one and the research that exists does not transfer.
Do you cover the whole state?
Not in the sense of having crews on the ground, and it would be dishonest to suggest otherwise. Calls route by ZIP where an independent operator covers the address. What this site can do for any address is tell you which agency is responsible for your situation, sourced from that agency's own page, and take your details so the private-property case can be talked through on a call.
If it is on your own property
Call and describe it. The first thing that gets worked out is whether this is a job you should be paying for at all, and if it is, whether anyone is available for your address. Both answers are given straight.