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Dead Animal Removal in Sarasota County
Sarasota County has the most homeowner-friendly ordinance we found in Florida. It says a dead animal shall be disposed of by Animal Services on the request of the owner of the property where it is found. Check it before you hire anyone.
Sarasota County is the one place in this audit where the ordinance names you, the property owner, as someone who can ask.
Section 14-50(a) reads that any dead animal, on request of the owner of such animal or the owner of the property where such animal is found, shall be disposed of by Animal Services. The verb is shall, and the second trigger is the property owner rather than the animal's owner. That is a materially different rule from the rest of the state, and we are not going to hide it to sell a job.
Two honest caveats. The ordinance says disposed of rather than removed from your property, and it does not describe an officer attending, entering land or collecting from a structure. And subsection (b) lets the Board set fees by resolution, so it is not necessarily free. The published Animal Services fee schedule lists a fifty dollar disposal fee for an owned animal, which does not obviously price the property-owner route.
The City of Sarasota is a different rule and should not be mixed with the county's. Its section 8-8 starts with a police officer seeing or being told about a carcass, puts the duty to remove on the animal's owner within four hours, and has the city act only where that owner cannot be found.
Who is responsible for what
| Situation | Who handles it | Terms |
|---|---|---|
| Unincorporated county, on request of the property owner | Sarasota County Animal Services | Ordinance 14-50(a). Fees may be set by resolution |
| Unincorporated county, on request of the animal's owner | Sarasota County Animal Services | Same subsection; a $50 disposal fee is published for an owned animal |
| City of Sarasota, officer notified | The animal's owner must remove it within 4 hours | Ordinance 8-8 |
| City of Sarasota, owner cannot be found | The city removes it | A fallback, not a service you request |
Doing it yourself here
The county ordinance does not address household carts or burial, because it routes disposal through Animal Services instead. If you are considering handling it yourself, the state-level rules are the ones to read.
Where that leaves wildlife on private ground
Section 14-50 says a dead animal shall be disposed of by Animal Services. It does not say anyone will locate a carcass you cannot find, enter a crawl space, or work in an attic. An unreachable source inside a structure is a different job from disposal of an animal already in hand.
Questions about Sarasota County
Will Sarasota County really take a dead animal on my request?
The ordinance says so, and you should try it first. Section 14-50(a) provides that any dead animal, on request of the owner of the animal or the owner of the property where it is found, shall be disposed of by Animal Services. Two caveats worth carrying into the call: the wording is disposed of rather than collected from your property, and subsection (b) allows fees to be set by resolution, so ask what it costs.
Is it the same inside the city of Sarasota?
No, and the two should not be confused. The city's section 8-8 begins with a police officer seeing or being informed of a carcass, requires the animal's owner to remove it within four hours of being notified, and has the city remove it only where the owner cannot be found. It is officer-driven, and the duty falls on the animal's owner rather than on you.
What does the county charge?
Its published Animal Services fee schedule lists a disposal fee of fifty dollars for an owned animal. That line is scoped to an owned animal and does not clearly price the separate property-owner route in the ordinance, so the honest answer is to ask when you call.
Sources for this page
- Sarasota County Code, Sec. 14-50, Disposition of dead Animals · checked 20 September 2026
- Sarasota County Animal Services, ordinance fees · checked 20 September 2026
- City of Sarasota Code, Sec. 8-8 · checked 20 September 2026