Dead animal pickup times in Toronto prolonged by spike in calls

It can now take more than a week for City of Toronto staff to retrieve an animal cadaver after it's reported. And that stinks, according to one city councillor.

Some cadavers left on the street for weeks, councillor says

Michael Smee · CBC News · Posted: Oct 18, 2024 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: October 18

The outline of a raccoon's body is traced in chalk on a sidewalk. "RIP T.O. Raccoon": is written in chalk on the sidewalk. — A makeshift crime scene is set up on Church Street, where a dead raccoon was found and left for over 13 hours before being picked up by a city worker in Toronto on Friday, July 10, 2015. (Liam Casey/The Canadian Press)

It can now take weeks for City of Toronto staff to retrieve an animal cadaver after it's reported. And that track record stinks, according to one city councillor.

A motion by Brad Bradford (Ward 19, Beaches-East York) that calls on the city to trim that response time down to 48 hours passed at last week's council meeting.

"You go around the neighbourhoods in Toronto and you can find the cadavers just rotting in the street," he said. "The reality is, in many instances, nothing is happening."

Dead animal pickup is the responsibility of animal services — one of the six city services carried out by Municipal Licensing and Standards (MLS). MLS executive director Carleton Grant said the cadaver pickup target had been 48 hours, but by last year that target was proving to be too ambitious.

In fact, of the 14,000 calls for cadaver pickup the city received last year, it hit the 48 hour window only 62 per cent of the time, Bradford's motion states, giving it the worst track record of all the services overseen by MLS.

A man stands on the street feet away from a dead raccoon. — Coun. Brad Bradford says he's been getting complaints from residents, some of whom say they've had to walk past dead animals on the street for weeks before they're picked up. (Submitted by Brad Bradford's office)

"Sixty per cent, when I went to school, was not a very good grade," Bradford said.

But instead of working to improve its performance, Bradford said, MLS lowered the bar, dropping its expected response time from 48 hours to five business days in January 2024.

Grant acknowledged in an interview with CBC Toronto that even that new, five-day target isn't always being met by city staff. For instance, he said the average time to pick up a cadaver this week has reached 11 days, thanks to a spike in calls.

"I have dozens of emails in my inbox every week about animal cadavers that have been left on the road for sometimes in excess of 12, 14, 19 days," Bradford said.

Careton Grant is the executive director of Municipal Licensing and Standards for the city. He says a combination of staff shortages and an increase in the number of dead animals on the streets over the past couple of years has led to the problems. — Carleton Grant is the executive director of Municipal Licensing and Standards for the city. He says a combination of staff shortages and an increase in the number of dead animals on the streets over the past couple of years has led to the problems. (Mike Smee/CBC)

Part of the problem, Grant said, is the need for animal services staff to prioritize responding to live animal calls, such as dog maulings or coyote sightings.

"I understand the frustration when [residents] see a cadaver on their sidewalk or on their street for a lengthy number of days," he said. "However we do need to prioritize sick and injured animals over dead [ones]."

Grant said the city has a limited number of animal services staff who are trying to cope with an increased number of calls for dead animals.

'On the losing end'

"With the growth of our city, with the growth of our population, there's been more conflict," he said. "[Animals] are on the losing end."

Bradford's motion asks staff to develop a budget that takes into account funding for a new animal services team whose sole job would be to retrieve dead animals — a request that Grant says he made last month as part of MLS's 2025 budget requests. He won't know whether that request has been approved until early next year, he said.

Bradford also blamed Mayor Olivia Chow's leadership for animal services' slumping performance.

"This comes on the back of a record-breaking tax increase brought forward by Mayor Chow, on the promise of better services," he said. "We shouldn't be lowering the bar. We should be raising the bar."

Chow wouldn't speak with CBC Toronto on camera, but responded with an email statement.

"What's happening now is unacceptable. People should get what they pay for, and not have to wait longer than a day or two to have a dead animal picked up from their property or the side of the road," the statement said.

"We are getting to the bottom of this, and I expect this service to improve once the spring hits."

Grant said that despite what some residents believe, passing a dead animal on the street is not a health hazard, provided it's not handled. He recommends that residents call 311 to report dead animals, and not try to dispose of cadavers by themselves.