"Val" wrote:
"Cheryl Isaak" wrote:

So, do I let nature finish it's work - there are beetles and flies
aplenty.
This is a flower garden and an area I can avoid working in for a few
weeks.
Or do I grab the shovel and heft it to the woods or compost heap.

I'd personally opt for "heft to the woods" and let nature continue to take
its course else where.

Depends on the property size and proximity of neighbors. Animals die
on my property all the time, either from natural causes or
preditors. First clue I get is usually the appearance of turkey
vultures circling, they make very swift work of cleaning up dead
flesh. But sometimes I'll come across a dead carcass in one of my
mowed or meadow areas, I usually smell it before sighting. Then I'll
find a hunk of tree limb, hold my breath, and shove it as far into the
woods as is feasible. Often in spring right after the snow melts I'll
find partially skeletonized deer, possums, hedgehogs, wild turkeys,
etc. Anyone tells me to grab a shovel and dig a grave in the woods
has never attempted to dig a hole in the woods, just not possible
unless one uses a back hoe, an excavator, or some such... there's no
way any human being is going to get a shovel into a forest floor more
than an inch or two, the tree roots, plus rocks make that kind of
ground into an impenetrable matrix, you really need a machine, a
pretty hefty machine, and even then around here there's a good chance
that just below the surface there'll be boulders the size of
volkswagons.

If someone lives on a smallish property, say a housing development
with neighbors within shouting distance, then it behooves to have the
authorities retrieve and dispose of the corpse... in a populated area
especially, unless it's obviously road kill, there's a need to know
what killed that animal. And in any event do not handle or let
domestic animals near.