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Dead Animal Removal in Pierce County
Tacoma and the unincorporated county leave private property to the owner, while Lakewood publishes an unusual exception for wildlife.
Pierce County is the second largest county in the state and it is not uniform. Most of it follows the ordinary Washington pattern, where the duty sits with the property owner. One city inside it publishes something genuinely different, and if you are in that city it changes your options.
Who is responsible for what
| Situation | Who handles it | Terms |
|---|---|---|
| Private property, most of the county | The property owner | State duty under WAC 246-203-121 within 72 hours |
| Private property, Lakewood, DuPont and Steilacoom | Lakewood Animal Control | Officers respond to private property for sick, injured or dead wildlife |
| Puyallup, Sumner, Bonney Lake and neighbors | Metro Animal Services | Lists dead animal removal among its field services; property scope not published |
| County road | Pierce County | Roadway responsibility rests with the road authority |
| State highway | WSDOT | Via Washington State Patrol or local law enforcement |
Doing it yourself here
Disposal in Pierce County follows the state floor: the property owner has 72 hours, burial requires three feet of soil and 100 feet from water, and transfer station acceptance is set by the facility. Check your own hauler or transfer station before setting a carcass out for collection.
Where that leaves wildlife on private ground
The Lakewood exception is real and narrow. Two full-time officers cover Lakewood, DuPont and Steilacoom between them, the published scope is sick, injured or dead wildlife, and nothing in it mentions a crawl space, an attic or a structure. Elsewhere in Pierce County the ordinary pattern applies and a carcass on your ground is yours.
Questions about Pierce County
I am in Lakewood. Will they really come to my yard?
That is what the city publishes: animal control officers will only respond to private property for sick, injured or dead wildlife. It is a small team covering three jurisdictions, so it is worth asking about timing, and nothing in the published scope covers retrieving an animal from inside a structure.
Does Metro Animal Services come onto private property?
Not stated. Metro lists dead animal removal among its field services with no property-type qualifier, and the county's own routing frames it as the roadway service. This site treats the private-property question as unresolved rather than claiming it either way.
What about Tacoma?
Tacoma runs its own solid waste utility and its own animal control arrangement, and neither publishes a private-property carcass collection service. The state duty on the property owner is the operative rule.
Sources for this page
- City of Lakewood, Animal Control · checked 22 September 2026
- Metro Animal Services · checked 22 September 2026