Who Picks Up Dead Animals in Mississippi

For a state highway, Lafayette County's website says the Mississippi Department of Transportation handles dead animals in the roadway and gives (601) 359-7001, and Olive Branch's website lists 1-866-521-MDOT (6368) for state-maintained roads. Neither is an MDOT page; MDOT's own contact page could not be read when this guide was checked. City streets and county roads belong to the city or county.

Some city codes describe one, each differently. Jackson's code says dead animals "will be removed by special pickup on call to the animal control division." Meridian's says the carcasses of dead animals "will be made the subject of special collections by the city upon request made to the public works director." Southaven's code provides a pickup from any residence in the city at a minimum charge of $25 per animal, paid in advance, and Olive Branch's covers a dead dog or cat at a residence, at the owner's request, for $25. Hattiesburg's sanitation department removes dead animals found in the rights-of-way of city roads. Biloxi's code, which does not describe a pickup, says the police department is to be notified between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. when a dead animal must be disposed of. None of these sections says how far onto a property the city will go.

Several codes do. Vicksburg's makes it unlawful to let a dead animal remain on one's premises for more than six hours after its death, and puts removal on the owner or occupant at their own expense. Greenville's says no person may let a dead animal or fowl remain on their premises, "but shall remove the same or report the same to the city for its removal." Oxford's tells the owner of a cow, horse or other large animal to contact the city sanitation department for directions. Separately, Hattiesburg's code says a carcass must be disposed of within 12 hours of the death or discovery unless it is refrigerated or frozen, and Biloxi's says a dead animal may not remain undisposed for longer than 12 hours; the Hattiesburg section does not say who must act. There is no statewide deadline in the sources we reviewed.

Less, on the pages we reviewed. Madison County's Road Department lists dead animals among the items its debris pickup will not collect, and the county's garbage contractor lists "Dead Animals over 10lbs" as not acceptable. DeSoto County sends "Large dead animals/deer blocking roads in unincorporated areas of the county" to its Road Management department at 662-469-8025. The Rankin, Hinds and Harrison county pages we reviewed do not describe a dead-animal route either way, so call the county road department and ask.

Each covers a narrow piece. The Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks asks the public to report deer found emaciated, lame or immobile, or dead with no obvious cause of death, and sets the carcass rules in its CWD Management Zones; it says it cannot pick up injured wildlife, except some threatened or endangered species. The State Department of Health handles rabies questions, including bats, at 601-576-7725. The Board of Animal Health writes the livestock carcass rule and the bird-flu advice. On the pages we reviewed, none of them describes a service for collecting a dead raccoon, opossum or squirrel from a home.

Start with your city or county. Southaven's code provides a paid pickup from residences; Jackson's and Meridian's describe a pickup or special collection on request without saying whether it reaches private property. None of the city or county pages we reviewed mentions collecting an animal from under a house, a crawl space or an attic; where the pages we reviewed describe no route for the case, they do not say who removes it, and an owner can arrange removal personally or hire someone. An independent operator, where one covers your address, can remove an animal that can be reached through an existing opening without cutting anything.

Not by dumping it there. Mississippi law makes it a misdemeanor to put, throw or dump dead wildlife on streets, roads, highways or their rights-of-way, in public waters, or on private property without the owner's permission (Miss. Code §97-15-32, as reproduced in the Legislature's 2026 bill text). City codes add their own bans: Columbus's, for one, makes it unlawful to throw a dead animal into any street, public ground, sidewalk or ditch.