It took me by surprise when a client told me this.

When phoned East Renfrewshire Council requesting a removal of a large fox they had found lying dead in the garden outside their home in Newton Mearns a council officer told the woman no one would call out to do anything about it regardless she pays for it or not. The council officer also advised her to put the animal into the household bin that gets emptied once a fortnight.

I have made a quick check to confirm this. Further to this matter I contacted SPCA to learn that the charity does not remove dead animals and their advice was to contact the local authority.

Thinking it further – I would not put a large dead animal like fox into a household bin. Just imagine looking at a dead fox, deer, dog etc., in a waste bin when you open it to put rubbish in. Yak, I wouldn’t like to be a bin man in East Renfrewshire!

Please dispose of dead animals correctly

This council’s advice was wrong. Larger dead animals such as cats, dogs, foxes and deer correctly should, in-line with BPCA code of good practice, be either buried or incinerated. It is not ‘just’ for disrespect to the animal but its decomposing body could attract other pests and vermin to your house; e.g. rats and even more foxes, in summer moths also a multitude of flies. Such flies as Bluebottles and House flies may be carriers of diseases transferrable to man, rats can carry leptospirosis, known as Weil’s disease, which could be fatal.

If you burry a dead animal make sure it’s put deep enough not to attract rats, foxes and seagulls. You cannot do it on someone else’s land without the owner’s consent. For incineration (cremation) contact your local vet. I have arranged for this fox to be uplifted and incinerated at Abbey Veterinary Group in Paisley. Their current price for incineration of a dead animal up to 10 kg is £42.