Home/Dead Animal Pickup: Who Collects What

Who Picks Up a Dead Animal in Shreveport and Bossier City?

Checked against City of Shreveport, Caddo Parish and Bossier published pages on November 4, 2026. How we research this site.

It depends on where the animal is. If it is in the street or at the curb inside Shreveport, the city collects it. If it is in your yard, under the house, in the attic or inside a wall, no public agency here will come and get it.

The short answer, by where the animal is

Inside Shreveport: the curb rule

The city’s rule is short. Solid Waste picks up small dead animals that are in the street or placed curbside, and its employees are not allowed onto private property to collect them. The city cites Section 74-30 of its Code of Ordinances for this.

The city’s help article adds the practical part: do not put the animal in your garbage can, though a bag or a box is fine. Once it is at the curb, call (318) 673-6300 and the division will send someone. Neither page mentions a fee. Neither says how quickly a crew comes, so it is worth calling early in the day.

That covers roadkill on a city street and a dead cat, squirrel or opossum you can reach in your yard. It does not cover anything you cannot get to.

Outside the city, and across the river in Bossier

Outside the Shreveport city limits, the city sends callers to Caddo Parish Animal Control at (318) 226-6936. Caddo Parish Animal Services describes itself as an open-admission shelter for dogs and cats whose job is protecting residents from dangerous, nuisance and uncontrollable animals. Its published remit does not mention collecting carcasses, so call before you set anything out.

Bossier is less clear. Bossier City’s animal control FAQ covers stray dogs and cats, trap rental for stray cats and surrendering a pet, and says it will not pick up trapped cats. Bossier Parish’s animal control line, (318) 965-9557, is published for vicious animals. The parish Highway Department, (318) 965-3752, maintains about 685 miles of parish road. None of these pages says it collects dead animals. If you are in Bossier, ask the city or the parish before assuming anyone will come.

Under the house, in the attic or inside a wall

This is where most of the difficult cases sit. LDWF warns that trapping adults in spring and early summer can leave young behind in an attic or under a house, where they die and decay. Louisiana’s Office of Public Health notes that bats can die inside the closed spaces of homes and that the smell while they decompose can be very unpleasant.

A private service will usually do four things: find the carcass, which is often the hardest part and can mean a small inspection cut; remove it; clean out or replace anything it has soaked into, such as insulation; and find how the animal got in so the next one does not die in the same place. In Louisiana, operators who take wildlife are required to dispose of it by deep burial at least four feet down, by incineration or at a sanitary landfill.

We do not publish a price for this. It depends on whether the animal can be reached from the attic or crawlspace or whether a wall or ceiling has to be opened, and that cannot be judged from a description.

How long the smell lasts

Nobody can give you a date, and anyone who does is guessing. What decides it is how quickly the carcass dries out. An Extension expert answering one homeowner put a small animal at a week or two. Extension guidance is that larger animals take longer, because the odor only goes once the body has dried out or been consumed by insects.

That is why the same animal is worse here. A closed wall cavity or crawlspace in a humid Shreveport summer does not dry out quickly, and an animal near ductwork can put the smell through the whole house. Air fresheners and charcoal can make it more bearable, but they do not make it end any sooner. Removing the carcass does.

If you are moving it yourself

Rabies spreads through saliva and brain or nerve tissue reaching broken skin, or the eyes, nose or mouth, according to the Louisiana Department of Health. So do not touch a carcass with bare hands. Use gloves and a shovel, put it in a bag or box, and set it at the curb.

One exception: if it is a bat found inside the house, or anyone may have touched or been bitten by the animal before it died, do not throw it away. Call the Office of Public Health’s 24-hour line, 800-256-2748, and your doctor first. Rabies can only be confirmed by testing the animal, and the animal is needed for that.

Questions people ask

Will the City of Shreveport pick up a dead animal for free?

Shreveport’s Solid Waste Division collects small dead animals that are in the street or set out at the curb inside the city limits. Neither of the city’s pages on this mentions a charge. Call (318) 673-6300 once the animal is at the curb. Crews will not come onto your property to get it.

Does animal control pick up dead cats and dogs in Shreveport?

Inside the city it is Solid Waste, not animal control, that collects dead animals, and the city’s help article says it picks up deceased animals within the city limits without limiting that to wildlife. The same curb rule applies. Outside the city limits, the city directs callers to Caddo Parish Animal Control on (318) 226-6936.

Who removes a dead animal from under my house or inside a wall?

Nobody public. The city will not go onto private property, and neither Caddo Parish nor Bossier publishes a service for it. That job goes to a private wildlife or dead-animal removal service.

How long will the smell last if I leave it?

There is no fixed answer. An Extension expert answering a homeowner said the odor from a small animal usually fades within a week or two, and Extension guidance is that larger animals take longer, because the smell only stops once the carcass has dried out or been eaten by insects.