Dead Raccoon Trapped Under Deck -- What to Do?

[Alan]

Hi,

Hope someone can help.

I have a dead raccoon trapped under my deck. Problem is that it is in a location I can't reach unless I tear the deck apart. I have no problem letting it decompose naturally but the stench is bad and I am worried about disease.

I can see it through the cracks in the deck and can pour liquid or powder (maybe) on the carcass.

Any suggestions as to what I can do would be greatly appreciated as I am trying to avoid tearing apart the deck.

Thanks.

Alan

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Lime. Can you get it through the cracks? I'd also be concerned that it will attract mice or rats or other nasty feeders.

[Joe Doe]

Decomposing naturally means, maggots will invade and then eventually hatch into flies. You will be inundated with both.

Roland

[Alan]

I can get powder down there probably. Where does one tyically to go to buy lime?

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Any garden supply should have it as it is used on lawns.

[Alan]

Thanks.

[Oscar_Lives]

Pop a couple of decking boards up, reach down and pull that sucker out. Get him quick while he still has rigormortis. Once he bloats, you risk pulling a limb off or popping him open and releasing thousands of maggots.

Good luck.

[Alan]

Problem is the way the deck was constructed, I can't pop up any boards and get to him. Stupid design, but my only option is to either dismantle a huge section of deck or cut into it.

Alan

[Dr. Hardcrab]

"Alan" wrote

In the produce section of your local grocer. Usually next to the lemons.....

[Dan]

Man, you sure cover all the news groups.

Dan..........from ASC!

[bmickey9]

You do too!

[DL]

Couple of thougts come to mind.

1. I would assume rigimortis has set in so moving the body as a whole shouldn't be a problem. Is there a way to get rope around the animal and drag it out from underneath the deck. I would take a long pole and attach rope to the end of it which would allow you to hook and drag the animal out.

1. If access is truly an issue from underneath, and it was my deck, (I have a deck made of IPE using the ipe-clips hidden mounting system so gaining access under the deck would be a similarly tough problem), I would cut out one or two (depending on the size of the animal) joist width (16" wide) section(s) of decking directly above the raccoon so that you can get it out of there. I would find where the joists are and mark the lines along the center of the joists. Cut out the section(s) of decking to gain access to the raccoon. I would use my Fein Multimaster as it has a saw attachment that allows straight forward cuts with a very thin kerf so that the decking could easily be screwed back in place using the Trimstar screws. Depending on how you cut the decking out, you might have to put in a replacement section of decking. Also, depending on how your deck was built, you could use nails or regular decking screws.

While it would break the clean look of the deck, I would much rather have that than the smell, disease, and infestation of rodents and other animals that will naturally come. This would also allow you to properly treat the area where the raccoon has been as I am sure it has been there a while.

Remember to seal all access point to the underside of the deck so this doesn't happen in the future.

Hope these ideas help.

David

P.S. I plan to redesign the way my deck is sealed off when I complete the steps to make every effort to prevent something like this from happening in the future... Thanks as it was not something I had put much thought into.

[Goedjn]

How did the racoon get in, then? There's obviously a racoon-sized hole somewhere. Stick a wire-noose through that hole, and poke/drag it over to the corpse with a stick and/or hooks down through the cracks.

Failing that, grab a shovel and dig a tunnel.

[Sandy K.]

Getting kinda crowded in here....

Sandy K.

[Dan]

Anyone have a cigar?? ;-)

Dan

[Dick Adams]

Suggestion #1: Call your county animal control gang. They should either come on and solve your problem OR give you instructions for a DIY solution.

Suggestion #2: Call a pest removal service.

Dick

[Dr. Hardcrab]

"Butt of course!!!"

;-]

The Other Dan

[scott_z500]

"I have a dead raccoon trapped under my deck. Problem is that it is in a location I can't reach unless I tear the deck apart."

Pics?

[Doug Kanter]

The mafia (which does not really exist) swears by lime.

[Doug Kanter]

How did the damned thing get in there? Here's an idea: Get thee to a fishing tackle shop. Get a spool of the heaviest monofilament line they've got, and either a very heavy lure with large treble hooks, or have them help you rig treble hooks with an inline trolling sinker. Start fishing.