Dead Animal Removal in Washington
Washington law gives you 72 hours to deal with a dead animal on your property, and names nobody to do it for you. Start by working out whether your situation is one of the few a public service actually covers.
- Phone quote
- Before any visit
- Independent operators
- Where one covers your address
- ✓ Washington statewide · one number
- Crawl spaces, attics, soffits, deck voids, yards and acreage
- We say so when a public service covers your situation instead
- No price, no arrival window and no coverage claim on this page
Who removes a dead animal in Washington?
In almost all of Washington, the property owner. WAC 246-203-121 gives the owner of the animal, or where that person cannot be identified the owner of the property it is found on, 72 hours to dispose of it, and names no agency to do it for them. Roads are different: WSDOT clears carcasses from state highways, and counties and cities scope their own pickup to the roadway. Seattle is the exception and will collect a large animal from private property on request, though it hands anything under 15 pounds back to the resident. Call 206-350-7737.
What we take on
Find the one that looks like yours
Washington houses are built over vented crawl spaces far more often than over slabs or basements, which is why so many of these calls are about a void rather than a lawn. These six are grouped by how hard the animal is to reach, because that is what actually decides whether there is a job and what it costs.
In the yard
Lying in the open where you can see it. The simplest situation to describe and the one where whose job it is gets decided fastest.
What this involves →
Under a deck
The void under a deck, a porch or a shed floor. Reachable far more often than people expect, and rarely requiring anything to be cut.
What this involves →
Crawl space
Under the floor, in the vented space that most western Washington houses have instead of a basement or a slab.
What this involves →
Attic or soffit
Above the ceiling, or in the eave and soffit voids that connect to it. Reachable where the attic is walkable and the animal is not inside a sealed cavity.
What this involves →
Commercial property
Businesses, rentals, HOAs and managed sites, where the public options that exist for residents usually do not reach.
What this involves →
Smell, no source
You know what you are smelling and you cannot find it. The search is the job, and sometimes the answer is that it is not an animal at all.
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 Washington 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, a crawl space, an attic, a soffit or the void under a deck. Washington's sanitation rule gives the property owner 72 hours to deal with it and names no agency to help. Seattle is the one real exception and will collect a large animal on request. If it is reachable, an independent operator can take it away.
On a road or public ground
Ask the agency first
A city street, a county road, a park or a state highway. Three different bodies own those answers in Washington, and WSDOT publishes that its crews clear carcasses from the state highway system. It is usually free, so find out which one applies before you pay anybody. This is not work you should be buying.
Small, reachable, and you are willing
You may be able to do it yourself
Washington allows this, with a step most people have never heard of. Before you remove wildlife found dead on your own property you have to telephone the state first and describe the animal. Rats and house mice are excluded from that rule. What you may then put in your own cart is a local question, and the weight limits differ from county to county.
By where it is lying
Who is responsible, and where that changes
| Where it is | Who handles it | What that actually means |
|---|---|---|
| Your yard, crawl space, attic or deck void | The property owner | WAC 246-203-121: dispose within 72 hours, out of public view immediately |
| Inside Seattle city limits, large animal | Seattle Animal Control | Collected on the occupant’s request, behind emergency calls; under 15 lb is the resident’s |
| A state highway | WSDOT | Its crews clear carcasses from state highways; report via WSP or local law enforcement |
| A county road or right-of-way | The county | Typically scoped to the roadway only; Spokane County publishes that it will not enter private property |
| A city street or sidewalk | The city | Several cities scope pickup to the roadway in those words |
| Wildlife anywhere | Not the state | WDFW runs no removal service and routes the work to paid operators |
Worth saying plainly
What this is not
If the animal is on a city street, a county road or a state highway, that is somebody else's job and it is usually free. WSDOT publishes that its crews remove carcasses from state highways, and several Washington cities scope their own pickup to the roadway in exactly those words. We would rather point you at the right agency than take money for something the city would have done.
Seattle is the real exception and we are not going to pretend otherwise. The city's code lets it collect a dead animal from private property when the occupant asks, and it does. What it will not do is take anything under 15 pounds, which it hands back to you by name, or reach into a crawl space, an attic or a soffit. The Seattle page sets out exactly where that line falls.
And there is no operator coverage confirmed in any Washington county at present. Whether anyone is available for your address is a real question, and it is answered on the call rather than assumed here.
By area
Washington does not answer this the same way twice
The state rule is uniform and the local practice is not. One city collects a large carcass from your yard, the county next door publishes that its crews will not come onto private property at all, and a third tells you to call a wildlife control operator. We have written up 8 of them, quoted and dated.
If you handle it yourself
Washington sets no statewide limit, so your county does
| Jurisdiction | Household bin | Self-haul |
|---|---|---|
| King County | Under 15 lb in your own can or dumpster | 15 lb or more needs a waste clearance at Cedar Hills |
| City of Spokane | Fifteen pounds or less, separately bagged | Under 35 lb at county transfer stations; heavier by appointment |
| Thurston County | Not published as a cart item | Under 60 lb, double bagged, at the waste and recovery center |
| Yakima County | Not published as a cart item | County landfills carry a deceased-animals rate per ton |
| Richland | Not published as a cart item | Horn Rapids Landfill, $75 small and $150 large |
| Vancouver | Wrapped, under fifteen pounds, is garbage by city code | County transfer facilities |
Washington rules
The reference pages
Who Removes a Dead Animal in Washington
Who is responsible for a dead animal in Washington, by property type and by jurisdiction, quoted from the agencies' own pages and dated.
Read it →Washington Dead Animal Disposal Rules
What Washington law actually requires when you dispose of a dead animal: the 72-hour duty, burial depth and setbacks, and what may go in household garbage.
Read it →Before You Move a Dead Wild Animal in Washington
Washington requires a phone call to the state before you remove wildlife found dead on your own property. What the rule says, who it covers, and who it does not.
Read it →Licensing and Who Is Allowed to Do This Work in Washington
What Washington actually licenses for wildlife and carcass work, what it does not, and which claims cannot honestly be made.
Read it →Questions people ask before they call
Who answers when I call this number?
Whoever is running the advertising, which is not a field crew. This site takes inquiries and passes them to independent removal operators; nobody here handles a carcass. Because no operator's coverage is confirmed anywhere in Washington yet, the opening question on any call is whether your situation is even a private job. A lot of them are not.
Will a Washington city come and take it off my property?
In most of the state, no. Washington's own sanitation rule puts the duty on the property owner within 72 hours and names no agency to carry it out, and the city services that do exist are mostly scoped to the roadway or to domestic animals. Seattle is the real exception and does collect large animals from private property at the occupant's request. The market pages set out what each place actually publishes.
How much does dead animal removal cost in Washington?
None is shown, because no Washington operator is routed here and inventing a figure would be worthless to you. Four things move a real quote: how big the animal is, which void it is in, how much has to be shifted or opened to reach it, and where it can lawfully go afterward. All four get settled by phone before anyone travels, and the operator bills you directly.
Can it go in the household bin?
That is a local question in Washington, not a state one. No state rule sets a weight at which a carcass may go in a household cart. King County allows small dead animals under 15 pounds in your own can, the City of Spokane caps animal remains at fifteen pounds, and Thurston County takes double-bagged carcasses under 60 pounds at its waste and recovery center. The disposal rules guide sets out who says what.
I can smell it but cannot find it. Is that solvable?
Often, and the deciding factor is which void it is in. Crawl spaces, attics, soffits and the gap under a deck can usually be opened without breaking anything. A carcass shut inside a finished wall is a different proposition, because cutting drywall or a ceiling is not something most operators do and not something this site will commit anyone to. Nor will you get a day count here for the smell, since no Washington agency publishes one.
Do you cover the whole state?
Not with people standing by, and saying otherwise would be a lie. Nobody is routed on this site yet, so there is no confirmed coverage in any Washington county today. What the site does do is name the agency responsible for your particular situation, with the agency's own page behind it, and take your details so a private-property case can be worked through by phone.
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.