Dead Animal Removal in Eau Claire, WI
Who handles a dead animal in Eau Claire and Eau Claire County, quoted from the agency's own page: a city street, a state highway, and the private-property case that is yours to arrange.
- Phone first
- Nothing is priced on this site
- Your ZIP decides
- Who, if anyone, can take it on
- Quoted on the call
- Once the job is known
- β Wisconsin statewide Β· one number
Who do I call for a dead animal in Eau Claire, WI?
What decides it is the road the animal is lying on, or the fact that it is not lying on one. On a public street, City of Eau Claire Community Services Department (Streets Division) is the published contact: 715-839-4963. On an Interstate, US or state highway, WisDOT's car-killed deer contractor clears the shoulder; a carcass in the travel lane is a 911 call. On a county trunk highway it is the county highway department's. On private property, a yard, attic, deck or crawl space, it is the owner's to arrange; none of the Eau Claire pages we reviewed offers collection from private property. For private property in Eau Claire, Wisconsin Dead Animal Removal can talk through the situation and check whether an independent operator is available for a Eau Claire County address: call (414) 928-2653. Nothing here guarantees availability, and any price is quoted on that call.
Is dead animal removal free in Eau Claire?
Eau Claire publishes exactly one private-property answer and it is for deer: call Community Services at 715-839-4963 and the City retrieves the deer if it is on the boulevard; a deer that dies in the yard goes on a plastic tarp and is dragged to the boulevard, because the City will not go onto the property. The page never says whether that pickup is free, and it covers no other species. A carcass in a street or the right-of-way is a SeeClickFix Streets request. For a dead raccoon, skunk, squirrel or pet on private property, the city, the county and ECCHA publish nothing on the pages reviewed (Animal Control and its nine FAQs, Street | Fleet, Community Services, Trash Hauling, SeeClickFix, Parks & Trails, the full city FAQ base, the Title 6, 8 and 13 ordinances, the County Highway page and FAQs, County Solid Waste, and all 37 eccha.org pages), so that job is the owner's to arrange. Anything on private property is the owner's responsibility; whether an independent operator is available for a Eau Claire County address is decided on the call.
| Where the animal is | Who is responsible | Phone | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public street or city property | City of Eau Claire Community Services Department (Streets Division) | 715-839-4963 | City service |
| Interstate, US or state highway | Wisconsin Department of Transportation (Highway Maintenance Manual 07-15-01 Carcass Removal; Car-Killed Deer program, Northwest Region) | 911 in the lane; county highway department or sheriff otherwise (no WisDOT hotline) | State service |
| County trunk highway | Eau Claire County Highway Department | 715-839-2952 | County service |
| Private property: yard, deck, attic, crawl space | The owner arranges it; an independent operator if one is available for the address | (414) 928-2653 | Depends on operator availability; quoted on the call |
βPlease contact the Community Services Department at 715-839-4963 and the City will retrieve the deer if it's on the boulevard. If a deer dies in your yard, please place it on a plastic tarp and drag it to the boulevard for pickup. The City will not go on to your property to retrieve a deer.β
βStreets - Snow plowing, salting and sanding, potholes and street repairs, traffic signs, retention/detention ponds, debris or animal carcasses in the right-of-way, and sinkholes.β
βFor all County Highways, the Eau Claire County Highway Department does not remove deer carcasses unless they are a hazard to the traveling public. If the deer carcass is a safety hazard for drivers, the carcass will be moved to the ditch or side of the road to decompose.β
βThe Highway Department, by law, is not allowed to perform hired work for the public.β
βThe following materials shall be collected, hauled, and disposed of in accordance with applicable state and federal laws: explosive, flammable liquids, liquid paint, hazardous wastes, carcasses, stumps, significant amounts of construction/demolition debris, soil, rocks, medical and infectious waste, tires, human bodily wastes, or other similar materials.β
βNo garbage, mixed refuse, or dead animals can be kept for more than 7 days on any property.β
Quoted verbatim on 2026-09-15 from City of Eau Claire 'Deer Hunting in the City', SeeClickFix, Street | Fleet, Community Services, Trash Hauling and Animal Control pages plus the full city FAQ base and the Title 6, 8 and 13 ordinance PDFs; Eau Claire County Highway Department page and Highway FAQs PDF; Eau Claire County Solid Waste pages; eccha.org (37 pages); WisDOT Car-Killed Deer page and HMM 07-15-01 (July 2025); Wisconsin DNR carcass, sick-deer and wildlife-health pages.
What the pages do not say: Whether the boulevard deer pickup is free or carries a fee; its response time; which crew performs it; any size or weight limit; where the carcass is taken; whether the City helps a resident who cannot drag the deer, or a deer inside a fence, in a pond or under a deck; any city service for a non-deer animal on private property; who removes a carcass in a city park; any dead-pet channel at ECCHA or the City; whether any Eau Claire County landfill or transfer station accepts carcasses from the public and at what fee; whether a resident may bury an animal on a city lot; whether an independent operator currently covers Eau Claire County.
Who not to call: Eau Claire County Highway Department for anything on private property: its FAQ says 'The Highway Department, by law, is not allowed to perform hired work for the public', and on county highways it 'does not remove deer carcasses unless they are a hazard to the traveling public'; Wisconsin DNR for removal: its sick-deer page says 'in most cases, the department does not have the resources to remove dead animals, including deer', and it sends a roadway deer to the sheriff; Eau Claire Police Department Animal Control or ECCHA (715-839-4747) for a carcass: neither publishes any dead-animal role; the Animal Control FAQs cover live strays, licensing, bites and bats, and for a bat with no rabies exposure say 'a pest removal service should be contacted'.
A live animal is a different call. The Animal Control FAQ says a bat with no rabies exposure is a job for 'a pest removal service'; a bite goes to Eau Claire City/County Health for testing. A stray dog or cat goes to ECCHA at 715-839-4747 ext. 6, or to a Community Service Officer through the Communications Center at 715-839-4972.
For the statewide version of this breakdown, see our guide to who picks up dead animals in Wisconsin.
Why Eau Claire gets the dead-animal calls it does
Eau Claire sits where the Eau Claire River meets the Chippewa, and the two rivers, Half Moon Lake and Dells Pond thread wooded banks and floodplain through the middle of town. The older frame houses of the Third Ward, Randall Park, Eastside Hill and the North River Fronts back onto that water, with Carson Park and the Putnam Park ravine below the UW-Eau Claire campus in between, so raccoon, skunk and opossum work happens under porches and in detached garages a few blocks from downtown. Postwar ranches on the west side off Clairemont Avenue and the north side along Hastings Way carry the squirrel-in-the-attic calls. Deer come in along the wooded south and east edges, the Lowes Creek corridor, the Chippewa River State Trail, the newer subdivisions off Golf Road and in Princeton Valley, and the crossings on I-94, US 53, WIS 93 and the North Crossing (WIS 312), heaviest in the October to December rut and around the late-November gun season. The city's own deer page says urban densities run well above what it calls a healthy herd, and Altoona, Lake Hallie and Chippewa Falls share the same river edges.
Eau Claire publishes one private-property answer and it is for deer: call the Community Services Department at 715-839-4963 and the City retrieves the deer if it is on the boulevard; a deer that dies in the yard goes on a plastic tarp and is dragged to the boulevard, because 'The City will not go on to your property to retrieve a deer.' A carcass in a city street or the right-of-way is a Streets request through SeeClickFix, whose Streets category covers 'debris or animal carcasses in the right-of-way', or a call to the Streets Division at 715-839-4963. On county trunk highways the Eau Claire County Highway Department 'does not remove deer carcasses unless they are a hazard to the traveling public', and a hazard is moved to the ditch to decompose; on I-94, US 53, US 12 and the state highways the county highway department or the sheriff passes the report to WisDOT's Car-Killed Deer contractor, and a carcass in a traveled lane is a 911 call. City code 8.32.090(C) lists carcasses among the 'unacceptable wastes' a licensed hauler handles only under state and federal law, and 8.32.120(A) says no dead animal may be kept more than seven days on any premises in the city. All of it is the owner's to arrange privately, through an independent operator. No page here can promise one is covering Eau Claire.
Communities around Eau Claire: Third Ward, Randall Park, Eastside Hill, Westside Hill, North River Fronts, Downtown Eau Claire, Putnam Heights, Mount Washington, Shawtown, Princeton Valley, Altoona, Lake Hallie, Chippewa Falls, Fall Creek, Town of Washington, Town of Seymour, Town of Pleasant Valley, Town of Union.
Any private-property work in Eau Claire would be done by an independent operator, if one is available for the address, and disposal is that operator's to arrange under the rule covering that species in that county. DNR's guidance for handling dead wildlife is gloves or an inverted bag, never bare hands. A raccoon, skunk, bat or fox that a person or pet has been in contact with is a question for the local health department.
What do people call about in Eau Claire?
Common around Eau Claire: raccoon, skunk and opossum under the porches and in the garages of the Third Ward, Randall Park, Eastside Hill and the North River Fronts, where the older housing meets the Chippewa and Eau Claire river banks; squirrel in attics on the postwar streets off Clairemont Avenue and Hastings Way; deer on the wooded south and east edges, Putnam Park, the Lowes Creek corridor, Princeton Valley and the crossings on I-94, US 53, WIS 93 and WIS 312, heaviest in the fall rut and around the gun deer season. Deer is the only species the city addresses by name. Found one in a Eau Claire yard? Start here. Odor, nothing in sight? The five places to check first.
What does dead animal removal cost in Eau Claire?
Trash here is not a city service, and that changes the disposal question. Collection runs through private licensed haulers, code 8.32.090(C) puts carcasses on the unacceptable-waste list a hauler may take only as state and federal law allow, and neither the city nor the county names a landfill or transfer station that accepts one. So the route out gets settled case by case, by whoever removes the animal, as part of the job. Code 8.32.120(A) gives a premises seven days to be rid of a dead animal, which sets the urgency but not the amount. The amount comes from the independent operator during the call, shaped by the species, where the animal ended up and how hard it is to reach, and none has been verified to print here.
Nearby Wisconsin pages
The closest metros to Eau Claire with their own pages, each with what that city publishes, the road split and the species people report.
Eau Claire dead animal questions
Who picks up a dead deer in my yard in Eau Claire?
Eau Claire has no 311. How is a carcass in the right-of-way reported?
On I-94, US 53 or a county trunk near Eau Claire, does anyone actually remove the deer?
Eau Claire's code calls carcasses unacceptable waste. Can a bagged animal still go in the cart?
Is there any number in Eau Claire for a dead pet, or for a raccoon under the deck?
Is anybody covering Eau Claire and the Chippewa Valley?
Eau Claire Dead Animal Removal
Call to discuss the situation. Availability for a Eau Claire County address depends on current operator coverage; any price is quoted on the call.