City rapped for taking five days to remove animal carcass

A Winnipeg resident said she’s upset it took the city five days to retrieve a dead fawn from her yard after she reported it to 311.

Amy Gelhorn said she and her family noticed the animal carcass in her garden on Saturday. She called 311 and was told it would be picked up after the long weekend.

“It was removed this afternoon,” the north River Heights resident said Thursday. “So it took six days to remove it and we had to basically phone every day.”

She said neighbours on both sides of her house told her they saw the animal acting strangely on Friday and reported their concerns to 311. It’s believed the animal died overnight. As the days dragged on, the body continued to rot.

Gelhorn said animals were picking at the remains and she and her neighbours were worried the fawn carried disease.

“It’s likely that this deer was diseased… It’s upsetting to think there’s just a bio-hazard being left in your backyard and you can’t do anything about it until somebody decides they’re ready to deal with it.”

She called the city’s reponse unacceptable.

“I think if we hadn’t been following up, it would have taken even longer,” she said. “And the deer at this point, even after four days, started to decompose. There were maggots crawling everywhere. The smell was awful, you could smell it from down the block.”

She said people covered their noses as they walked by her house.

Gelhorn hopes that speaking out will prompt the city to make such calls a priority.

“There should be some sort of procedure in place,” she said. “I understand it’s the long weekend, but they have to have someone working who can pick this animal up before it starts to decompose.”

The City of Winnipeg said it expected to respond to the issue today.

morgan.modjeski@freepress.mb.ca