Editorial Policy
This site publishes homeowner guidance on dead animal disposal, wildlife handling and the Ohio rules that apply to both. Those pages are written to be accurate enough that a county health department, a solid-waste district or an ODNR employee could hand one to a resident without correcting it first. This page explains how that is done and how to tell us when we get it wrong.
What this policy covers
It applies to every educational page on this site — the guides, the blog articles and the FAQ. It does not apply to pricing or service pages, which describe a commercial offer rather than the law, and which are kept separate for that reason.
Which sources we use, and in what order
Sources are used in a fixed order of authority. A lower tier never overrides a higher one, and a commercial or SEO website is never used as authority for a legal claim.
| Tier | Sources | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio Revised Code · Ohio Administrative Code · ODNR · Ohio EPA · Ohio Department of Agriculture · Ohio Department of Health | Any statement of what the law requires or permits |
| 2 | Ohio State University Extension · county extension offices · county health departments · county solid-waste districts · county engineers · municipal animal control and public works | Local practice, county-level rules, agency contacts |
| 3 | CDC · USDA APHIS Wildlife Services | Disease and safety guidance where no Ohio-specific source exists |
Statutes are read at codes.ohio.gov and quoted from the official text, not paraphrased from memory or from a secondary summary. Each educational page lists its sources with the date each was retrieved.
How we separate law from guidance
Conflating a statute with a recommendation is the most common error in consumer content on this subject, and it is the one a government reader notices first. These four categories are kept distinct in the text:
| Category | How it appears | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Law | Cited by section number and linked | Ohio Revised Code § 941.14 requires burial "not less than four feet beneath the surface of the ground" |
| Agency guidance | Named as guidance, attributed to the agency | CDC advises never approaching an animal that appears sick or dead |
| Local policy | Described as varying, with a direction to check | Whether a carcass may go in your bin is set by your municipality and your hauler |
| Industry practice | Labelled as practice, not requirement | Operators commonly double-bag in 3-mil contractor bags |
Review and update cycle
Each educational page carries a last reviewed date and a list of the sources checked. Pages are re-reviewed when a cited statute or rule is amended, when an agency changes a published contact or procedure, or when a reader reports an error. Where a page has not been re-verified within twelve months, the date shown makes that visible rather than hiding it.
Corrections
We would rather be corrected than be cited incorrectly. If a statement here does not match the official source, tell us — ideally with the section or agency page that says otherwise. Reports are checked against the primary source. Verified corrections are applied and the page is re-dated. Corrections that change the substance of legal guidance are noted on the page.
Send a correction or call (614) 412-5656.
Independence and disclosure
Ohio Dead Animal Removal is a private advertising and lead-routing business. It is not a government agency and has no official relationship with ODNR, Ohio EPA, the Ohio Department of Agriculture, the Ohio Department of Health, or any county or municipal body. Those agencies are cited as sources; this site does not speak for them and does not imply their endorsement.
The business does not perform removals. All field work is carried out by independent operators under their own ODNR Commercial Nuisance Wild Animal Control Operator licence (Ohio Revised Code § 1531.40) and their own insurance. We earn revenue when a homeowner contacts one of them.
That commercial interest is exactly why the educational pages state plainly when a job is free and handled by a public agency. A page that hides the free option to sell a paid one is not a resource, and would not survive review by the agencies this site cites.
Educational content vs service pages
Guides, articles and the FAQ answer the question regardless of who the reader calls, and name the responsible public agency where one exists. Service pages describe what a partner operator does and what it costs. The two are kept structurally separate so a reader — or a government reviewer — can tell immediately which one they are reading.
Accuracy and review
- Policy last reviewed
- Applies to
- All guides, blog articles and the FAQ