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Wisconsin statewide

Dead Opossum Removal in Wisconsin

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Private-property removal Β· Phone quote before any visit Β· Independent operators where one covers your address.

Dead opossum removal in Wisconsin is mostly a job in three places: under a porch or deck, under a shed, and inside a crawl space. The DNR lists porches and the space under buildings among the places an opossum hides by day. On private ground the removal is the owner's to arrange, and the call settles whether any independent operator can take that address.

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Quick answer

Who handles dead opossum removal in Wisconsin?

Road class answers this until the pavement ends. On the shoulder of an Interstate, US or state highway, WisDOT maintenance, which the manual leaves to landfill a small animal, bury it or move it into thick roadside vegetation on no published timeline; in the traveled lane, 911. On a county trunk highway, the county highway department. On a city street, the city, under its own policy. The state writes that county and city split down for deer; for a smaller animal each agency sets its own scope, and most of the county departments checked for this site publish none. On private property, the owner. Past that property line no Wisconsin agency takes the removal on, so Wisconsin Dead Animal Removal routes the call by ZIP to an independent operator where one covers the address, and whether this situation can be taken on, and the price, are settled on the call. Call (414) 519-6688.

What the job involves

What dead opossum removal covers, and what it does not

An opossum, the animal this page is about

A dead opossum is usually lying in the cover it slept in by day, behind deck skirting, under a shed floor or deep in a crawl space. The DNR says the species thins out in northern Wisconsin, where winters are harsher. DHS names bats and skunks as the state's primary rabies reservoirs, yet its bite flowchart files an opossum beside the fox and the raccoon, so a bite goes to the health department first.

Removal is carried out by independent operators. Their permits, their insurance and their answer for how the carcass is disposed of are their own, and none of it is checked or vouched for here. This site sells advertising and puts the call through. What any one operator will take on comes out in that conversation, not here.

Whose job is a dead opossum in Wisconsin?

Road class decides it, and that split is one of the few pieces of this subject the state writes down. WisDOT's Highway Maintenance Manual 07-15-01 puts it in one sentence: "Counties are responsible for removing deer carcasses on county highways. Towns, villages and cities are responsible for removing deer carcasses on their local roads." That sentence is about deer. The roads do not change for a smaller animal, but no state instrument assigns the pickup, and each agency is left to whatever scope it publishes for itself. The state system itself runs on car-killed deer contracts, which cover less than the name suggests, and no Wisconsin statute pushes any of this onto a homeowner's yard.

  • Interstates, US and state highways: the WisDOT contract requires its car-killed deer vendor to clear a deer from the shoulder and right-of-way no later than two business days after a report, and the manual does not require pickup on weekends or holidays. A deer in the traveled lane is outside the contract: call 911. Off the lane, WisDOT sends the report to the county sheriff's non-emergency line and publishes no carcass number of its own. Everything else on the same road is outside that contract: "The remains of small animals are not the responsibility of WisDOT CKD contractors," and the manual leaves maintenance to landfill them, bury them or move them into thick roadside vegetation, on no published timeline.
  • County trunk highways (the lettered routes): the county, under the same WisDOT allocation, which is written for deer. The county highway departments checked for this site publish nothing at all about other species, and the one that publishes a deer policy, Eau Claire County, removes a carcass only when it is a hazard and otherwise moves it to the ditch. WisDOT lists a highway commissioner for all 72 counties.
  • City streets: the city, under whatever it publishes. Milwaukee takes reports at (414) 286-CITY (2489); Madison through Report a Problem or 608-266-4430; Kenosha's Street Division at 262-653-4070; Racine's Customer Service at 262-636-9171. Each city page quotes its own wording.
  • Your own ground, from the side lot to the crawl space: yours to arrange, whether it is behind a Milwaukee bungalow, under a deck, in a garage or beneath a Madison ranch. Wisconsin DNR's guidance for a dead wild animal is to bury it on your property or double-bag it into the trash; Β§ 95.50's disposal deadline covers livestock and domestic animals, not wildlife. That private-property case is what this site exists for.

The agency-by-agency breakdown, with the quotes, is in the guide to who picks up dead animals in Wisconsin.

Step by step

A dead opossum removal call, start to finish

  1. Make sure it is dead. An opossum playing dead gets up and wanders off once the yard goes quiet; a dead one stiffens, draws flies and starts to smell. Keep the dog inside.
  2. Settle whose ground it is on. On a city street or the terrace it is the city's, where the city publishes a service; under your porch, in the garage or in the crawl space, it is yours.
  3. If it bit or scratched anyone, phone the local health department before anything is bagged; it may want the body tested. If a pet had it in its mouth, ask your veterinarian whether the health department should hear about it.
  4. On the call, describe the spot and the way in: deck skirting, a shed floor, a crawl-space hatch and the headroom behind it. Mention any young you saw on its back or in the pouch.
  5. The operator bags the opossum and handles the disposal end. Soil or vapor barrier the body soaked into leaves with it only where the quote includes that work.
Cost in Wisconsin

Who sets the price for a dead opossum removal

Whoever takes the job puts a number on it during the call, once they know what died, where it sits, what it will take to reach it and what has to happen to it afterward. Nothing is printed here, because no operator's rates in this state have been checked, and a number invented to fill the gap would commit somebody else to it.

The quote comes on the call; the invoice comes from whoever does the work, not from this site.

When to call

What waiting costs you

Call early. Fluids move down into whatever the animal is lying on, and soil and insulation hold onto them, so every day it sits usually means more material leaves with the carcass than would have on the first one. One call comes before this one: if anybody in the house or a pet made contact with a raccoon, skunk, bat or fox, your local health department takes that question.

Questions

What callers ask about dead opossum removal

Could a dead opossum carry rabies in Wisconsin?
The Department of Health Services names bats and skunks as the state's primary rabies reservoirs, and the opossum is not one of them. Its rabies flowchart still groups an opossum with 'fox, skunk, weasel, bobcat, raccoon, coyote, opossum, mink or some other wild carnivores,' and for that group the flowchart says 'there is no observation period,' so an animal that bit someone gets tested. A bite or a scratch to a person makes it a health-department question before it is a removal; if only the dog had it, ask your veterinarian or local health department before the carcass goes out. DHS tells bite victims to notify the local health department whenever a bite occurs, and asks that a biting animal not be destroyed or released until a public health official or an animal control officer has been consulted. A carcass already gone out with the trash cannot be tested. With no contact at all, pick it up the way the DNR says to handle any wild carcass, through gloves or an inverted plastic bag and never with bare hands.
What if there are babies in the pouch?
From spring into summer, a dead female may be carrying young. The DNR says opossums mate in March, that the young spend about two months nursing in the pouch, then ride on the mother's back until they leave her at around four months old, 7 to 9 inches from snout to rump. Its Keep Wildlife Wild guidance names a young animal whose parent is dead as a case for a wildlife rehabilitator, and says an opossum under 7 inches, tail not counted, may need that care. Wisconsin's captive-wildlife rules let a person hold a wild animal for up to 24 hours to hand it to a rehabilitator or a veterinarian. Say on the call if anything is moving on or beside the body. Recovering the carcass and placing live young are two separate jobs, and the second belongs to the rehabilitator.
It is still alive under my deck. Is that the same call?
A live opossum is a nuisance-wildlife matter, and it follows different rules from a dead one. The DNR's Nuisance Wildlife Guidelines list the opossum among Wisconsin's unprotected species, together with the European starling, the house sparrow, the porcupine, the skunk and the weasel. A landowner or occupant may trap or shoot one that is causing damage on their own property year-round, with no hunting or trapping license. Under NR 12.10, anyone the owner brings in to help must carry a valid hunting or trapping license and have the owner's written approval. The DNR's nuisance page points people who cannot solve it themselves to the Wisconsin Trapper Association's Nuisance Wild Animal Removal Referral List. Once the animal is dead, the recovery is what this line is for.
Will my city pick up a dead opossum?
From the street or the terrace in some cities, and from private property in none that we reviewed. Madison Engineering collects dead animals after 3 PM on weekdays, reported at 608-266-4430 or through the city's online problem form, defines private property as usually running one foot past the property line at the sidewalk, and names a hired private company as one of the owner's options. The Oshkosh police FAQ routes roadway and terrace carcasses to its Street Department, (920) 236-5380, and says officers 'will NOT remove wild animals from residences.' Green Bay's Animal Control page sends any wild animal problem to 'a wildlife removal service or pest control.' Under your porch, that leaves a bag and a shovel, or an operator if one can take the address.
Can I bag a dead opossum and put it in the trash?
Often, if your city lets carcasses go in the cart. The DNR's disposal advice for a wild carcass is gloves, or a plastic bag worn inside out over the hand, and then a hole on your own land or two garbage bags and the trash. Madison lists the trash container as a removal option, and Racine Public Health describes moving a deceased animal with a shovel and gloves into a garbage bag and then a solid waste container. The weight is manageable, since the DNR puts an adult male at 6 to 7 pounds on average and females run smaller. Reach is what usually ends the do-it-yourself plan, because an opossum jammed into the far corner of a crawl space, or under a deck with a few inches of clearance, means lying on the ground to get it. Keep it out of the cart entirely if anyone was bitten; that carcass belongs to the health department's process.
How can I tell it is an opossum and not a raccoon?
Start with the tail. The DNR describes the opossum's as hairless and prehensile, built for gripping branches, while a raccoon's is furred and ringed. The opossum is also Wisconsin's only marsupial and has 50 teeth, the most of any North American mammal, which shows in a dead one's open jaw. Tell the operator which one it is. This site treats a raccoon as a rabies-vector species, while an opossum with no history of contact is a gloves-and-bag recovery. If the body is too far gone or too far back to tell, say so on the call.
How much does dead opossum removal cost?
The operator names a figure during the call, built from where the opossum is lying and what it takes to get a hand on it. Headroom in the crawl space, whether a skirting panel has to come off, and whether soaked soil or vapor barrier leaves with the body all move it.

Statewide questions on law, safety and process are on the Wisconsin FAQ.

Dead Opossum Removal in Wisconsin: the rest happens on the phone

Describe it once. Whether an independent operator can take it on, and the price, are settled on that call.

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