Owners are responsible for the removal of deceased animals on their property. If you wish to remove wildlife yourself, you should follow these health and safety precautions:

• Wear gloves
• Place deceased animal in a plastic bag
• Dispose of in your regular trash
• Remove and dispose of gloves
• Wash hand thoroughly

Deceased animals can often be left alone to allow scavengers to break down animals. If you want to have an animal removed from your property, but do not wish to do so yourself, you may contact a commercial wildlife companies who provide animal removal services for a fee.

Mass Wild Life has the authority to intervene when wildlife present threats to public safety. Some instances of behavior that presents includes mammals exhibiting signs of rabies, animals highly defensive of a food source for young, or animals in roadways creating traffic hazards.

Do you have problem wildlife like birds, bats or raccoons on your property? Licensed Problem Control agents can be hired by landowners to address a wild animal damaging your property or posing a threat to your safety. Click here to learn more and find a Problem Animal Control Agent near you.

While many animals such as raccoons, skunks, fox and opossums are believed mostly to hunt or be out at night, it is not always true. Since most trash and other small animals are out during the day, these nocturnal animals have changed their life style so they are able to find adequate food supply.  Seeing a nocturnal animal during the day does not mean it is sick or rabid.

To stop these animals from coming to your home, be sure to lock up any trash containers and keep them secured until trash day. Be sure to fix any barricade of openings an animal may be able to burrow in under sheds, garages and houses. Never feed pets or animals outside.

Signs of an ill animal:

• Falling over
• Sluggish
• Walking in Circles

Coyotes are well established in Massachusetts and can thrive in urban and suburban settings. While coyotes are generally shy and avoid contact with human, coyotes that associate humans with reliable food sources may interact more with humans and pets.

Here are a few suggestions to make your property less attractive to coyotes:

 - Remove food sources such as pet food bowls and bird feeders. Keep your garbage secure and never leave food out for animals.

- Keep an eye on your pets. Small dogs and cats may be seen as a food source. Supervise pets when they are outside.

- Close off crawl spaces under porches and sheds. Coyotes may use these types of areas for resting and raising young.

Click here to learn more about preventing conflicts with coyotes.

A very small number of bats may carry rabies. Rabies can be transmitted from bat to human if saliva from an infected bat gets through a person’s skin through a bite. Find more information about rabies from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

What to do if you had contact with a bat:

If you or someone you know had direct contact with a bat through a bite, scratch, or other physical contact you should take the following steps:

 - Wash the area thoroughly with soap and warm water

- Call your primary care physician

If direct contact or possible contact occurred, you should capture the bat without touching it and without damaging its head. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health may be able to test the bat for the presence of rabies. Click here to learn how to capture a bat.

What to do if there was no contact with the bat:

If you discover a bat in your home and no humans or animals had contact with the bat, take the following steps to guide it out of your home:

- Open windows in the room where the bat is

- Turn off the lights

- If the room has a door, close it

- Stay in the room to be sure the bat leaves. It may circle the room several times before it finds the open window.

Click here to learn more about bats in Massachusetts.

Non-migratory wild geese have grown into a large population in Arlington. Their waste soils parks, playgrounds, ponds and reservoirs, sometimes resulting in public use restrictions. Arlington Town Bylaw Title VI, Article 5 prohibits the feeding of waterfowl. Any person found feeding waterfowl may be subject to a find of $25 for the first violation.

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI)

How does it spread?

Wild migratory birds are natural carriers of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). They can carry the disease to new areas when migrating, potentially exposing native wild and domestic birds to the virus. Birds exposed to carriers, or contaminated materials, can become ill and die within hours of being infected.

In Massachusetts, HPAI has been detected in falcons, owls, bald eagles and more wild birds. In an effort to track the movement of HPAI and identify outbreaks, The US Department of Agriculture maintains a database of birds which tested positive for HPAI.

If you find sick or dead seabirds (i.e. gulls, terns, cormorants) or if you find 5 or more wild birds of other species at a single location, you should report them here. If you have questions or are unsure if you should report wild bird deaths, call the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife at 508-389-6300.

Click here for more about Avian Flu and wild birds.

Rabbits, squirrels and rodents are natural to our environment but can sometimes be considered a nuisance. Take the following steps to reduce the attraction of wildlife to your property:

 - Do not feed animals. Birdfeeders and other sources of food attract unwanted animals to your property and can be harmful to wildlife by contributing to disease spread.

- Secure your trash. Place all trash in rodent-proof containers with tight fitting lids.

- Maintain your yard. Rabbits and rodents like to hide in overgrown brush. Trim back brush to discourage activity.

Learn more about rodent control from the Arlington Health Department.