Detroit · Wayne, Oakland and Macomb
Dead animal removal, Detroit
The city's Department of Public Works collects dead dogs and cats from residential curbs and city streets. Its own page says its collectors will not go onto private property and do not serve commercial locations. Everything that leaves out is what this number is for.
Street or lot
DPW's Solid Waste Division takes dead-animal reports at (313) 876-0004 or through the Improve Detroit form. The scope on its page is narrow: dead dogs and cats, from residential households and from city streets, when reported. Not raccoons in the garage. Not a deer in the side lot. Not anything on a commercial property, and nothing behind a fence.
Freeways and trunklines are the Michigan Department of Transportation's. MDOT says it removes carcasses that pose a hazard on I, M and US routes, which in this metro means I-75, I-94, I-96, I-696, the Lodge, the Southfield Freeway, Woodward and Telegraph, reported through the regional office. County roads outside the city sit with the county road agency.
Michigan law puts a carcass on private property on the owner: disposed of within 24 hours, buried at least two feet if buried. On a 30-foot Detroit lot with a garage and a fence, that is rarely realistic, which is why this line exists.
| Where | Who |
|---|---|
| Dead dog or cat at a residential curb or in a city street | DPW Solid Waste, (313) 876-0004 / Improve Detroit |
| Anything on a freeway or state trunkline | MDOT, nearest regional office |
| County road outside the city | County road agency |
| Wildlife anywhere on private property, any animal behind a fence, in a garage or building, on a rental or commercial lot | This line |
Sources: City of Detroit DPW dead animal removal page; MDOT common questions; MCL 287.671. Confirm with the agency; policies change.
Houses, duplexes, rentals, buildings
A dead opossum under the porch of a brick bungalow in Warrendale. A raccoon that died in the garage of a rental on the east side between tenants. A cat in the alley behind a four-unit. A deer down in the side lot of a house near Rouge Park. Single-family, landlord-owned, or a manager with twelve doors: the operator takes the call from whoever is responsible, meets a tenant or a keyholder, and invoices as directed.
Access is the thing to state up front. Gate code, tenant home, lockbox, meet at the building. It saves a trip.
Deer and large animals
A deer is a weight and vehicle problem before it is anything else. On your own land it is a private job. In the road it belongs to whoever maintains the road, and the deer page walks that split.
What is not offered
Cutting into finished walls or ceilings to retrieve a mouse or rat. Live trapping. Pets. Roadkill reporting on the city's behalf. If the animal is sealed inside a structure and cannot be reached without opening it, the operator will say so; that page covers what happens then.
Detroit
Address. Where on the property. Access.
That gets a price on the phone for most jobs. What is found on arrival that differs gets re-quoted before work starts.