Dead Animal in the Chimney - What to Do
If you smell a bad odor coming from your fireplace, you might have a dead animal in the chimney. Perhaps you heard scratching in there a few days ago, and the sounds went away. Well, it was because the animal died of exhaustion and dehydration. If you have a dead carcass in the chimney, you can attempt to extract it either by opening the damper and searching above the firebox inside the flu, or you can try to remove the dead critter in your chimney from the top, with a chimney rod and hook. In some cases, such as a dead animal in between the firewall flu, this is the only option. If you can't do it, you may want to hire a pro. That's about all I have to say about the matter. Below is some garbage writing not worth reading.
Whatever the cause the animal died from may be, if you have found it near your house or in your house or dead animal in your chimney, it is now your problem. You do not want to keep dead animals around for several reasons. They leave a horrible stench and this is especially true if they have died in or under your home and it may be impossible to get rid of that smell if you let it permeate your house. Dead animals can also carry diseases that can be passed on to you or your pets if you should come into contact with it. This is not to say that the animal itself had a disease, but it could be harboring insects that do carry diseases that can then jump onto you or your pet. If you have a dead animal near or in your home you need to try some of these do it yourself tips to get rid of it immediately.
The first thing that you must do is to check with your state’s regulations on the proper way to dispose of a dead animal carcass. There are very strict laws that dictate the best way to do this as a carcass can have damaging health effects if it is not disposed of properly. Every state’s laws are different, but there are some good rules of thumb to follow when disposing of a dead animal.
The next thing that you should do is to check and see if there is an agency to deal with this for you. There are professional wildlife removal agencies, but if you don’t have the money to do it that way, you can call your local humane society and see if they have a service that deal with dead animal removal in a chimney for free. You may even get them to decontaminate and clean the area for free. This is the best way to get rid of animal carcasses so you are not risking your health.
One of the rules of thumb is that you should never throw a carcass or bury a carcass next to a water source as it can pollute a town’s drinking water. It is always best to dispose of the carcass at least 100 to 200 feet away from any water source, whether that be a stream, pond, or a reservoir.
Never throw the body next to a road or in a drainage ditch. You should always bury the body at least 2 feet underground and you must ensure that it will not affect your neighbors if it is buried there. You cannot bury the body in an area that gets flooded a lot as that will cause the body to rise to the surface in the next rainstorm or flooding season you get.
Do not burn the body of a dead animal until you get permission first. Dead animals are only burned if they have some sort of infectious disease that is cause for concern. The reason that you are not supposed to burn them is that the ashes can pollute any water sources that are nearby if they happened to get in there. You do not want to get in trouble with the department of agriculture so make sure that you have this permission before you burn the body.
Always take the proper precautions before handling a dead carcass in the chimney. You need latex gloves, protective clothing and a breathing apparatus (especially if it is inside the home) to ensure that you do not get sick. It really is a good idea to call the professionals to come take care of the problem as they have the proper equipment to dispose of the body and to decontaminate the area that it was found in.
Go back to the main Dead Animal Removal page for more information about what to do if you have dead animals in your chimney. Do you hear scratching sounds in the chimney or fireplace? Is there a dead dead animal stuck in the chimney cavity creating a smell or odor? Or maybe a nest of baby dead animal in the chimney. Can they cause damage, and how do you get dead animal out of the chimney?
What to do if you have a dead animal in the chimney - There are a number of animals that love to crawl inside your chimney and sometimes they can’t get back out again. You may hear the animal scrambling and screeching but you can’t get to it, and it can’t get out and eventually you’re going to have a dead animal on your hands. It’s not a pleasant experience but if you don’t have covers or caps on your chimney, or you don’t repair any damage that occurs, you run the risk of this happening to you. Raccoons and squirrels are the likely culprits if you have an animal in your chimney, but it could be any number of critters. If you can get to the animal from the bottom, you’ll need to make sure you follow the correct procedures to safely remove the carcass and then clean away any residue - the nesting material, or any material the body came into contact with. There are concerns with diseases with any wild animal, rabies just being one of them. You can still contract some of these diseases from the decaying carcasses. You will need to use an enzyme-based cleaner to make sure any bacterial matter has been cleared away, and while doing all of this, you’ll need to be fully suited and booted. I use a full hazmat suit with a breathing mask and although it looks a little much, it’s the only way you can be sure that you’re not putting yourself in direct threat of disease. Some of the disease can be spread via inhalation and the air.
