Chris wrote:

In all the books and papers I have read, it seems that the only reason
to avoid adding meat scraps to a compost pile is to not attract
unwanted critters like possums and raccoons. Is this the case? Or is
there a biological reason not to add animal matter to a compost pile?

yes, most compost piles are open to the
air meaning flies can get in. flies can
transmit diseases quite easily from the
rotting meat to a sandwich you have on a
plate on the porch.

i'm not particularly germophobic, but
some things i really don't want to
encourage...

there is a lot to be said for feeding
crows in the same spot so they will come
through on their morning rotation and
take care of any scraps you leave for
them. i use the same location for trapped
mice and they are gone quite quickly.

larger roadkill that we don't want to
smell i bury deeply enough that they get
most decay over with long before the
topside critters and plants have a crack
at the results.

we don't really cook meat here that often
these days so it has not been much of an
issue.

if you'd like a natural method for dealing
with meat scraps there are certain kinds of
worms that will do the feasting for you.
i don't have a list of species handy, but
i'm sure they're out there.


songbird