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Your environment
Animal welfare
- Dead animals or birds
including agricultural livestock and RSPCA farm animal welfare line
- Injured animals or birds and animal cruelty - RSPCA
- Advice about sick and injured birds - RSPB
- See also :
Dead animals or birds
Adur District Council will remove, or arrange to remove, dead animals (eg cats, dogs, badgers, foxes), birds and larger animals, (eg deer), from public land and highway’s including verges, with the exception of the A27 Trunk Road, which is the responsibility of the Highways Agency (www.highways.gov.uk).
Adur District Council will also arrange removal of dead animals found washed up on the beach (eg dolphins, seals, whales).
Dead animals will normally be removed within 48 hours of being reported to ensure that it does not pose a health hazard.
The removal of dead animals from private land is the duty of the landowner.
Usually the bodies of domestic pets will be retained for a day or so (depending upon their condition), to allow time for their owners to collect them, should they so wish.
Adur District Council scans dead domestic pets to see whether they have an electronic tag. We use the tag number to obtain the owners contact details.
Adur District Council keeps a record of all dead domestic pets collect and, as far as possible this is matched against the log of all animals reported missing to Adur District Council.
When you report a dead animal to us please ensure you supply the following information :
- location of the dead animal (eg an adjacent or nearby address)
- brief details of the animal (such as type, colour, size)
- and the time at which you saw the animal
If you would like to report a dead animal that you have seen please ring (01903) 851729 or send waste an e-mail or use the on-line form for reporting dead animals.
Agricultural livestock
If you find any dead agricultural livestock (eg a cow, sheep, pig or horse), we will attempt to find and instruct the owner to remove as appropriate.
When you report a dead animal to us please ensure you supply the following information :
- location of the dead animal including :
- an adjacent or nearby address
- road number if known (eg A283)
- nearby local landmarks or features if on a country road
- details of the animal (such as type, colour, size, condition, etc)
- and the time at which you saw the animal
If you would like to report any dead agricultural livestock that you have
seen please ring (01903) 851729 or send
waste an e-mail or use the on-line
form for reporting dead animals.
RSPCA farm animal welfare line
The RSPCA has a farm animal welfare line - 0870 753 8333 - to
provide support to farmers and livestock owners.
Farmers and livestock owners can call the farm animal welfare line - 0870 753 8333. The service is available 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week.
Calls will be handled by a dedicated team, and, if necessary, passed onto frontline RSPCA staff to assess what help is needed.
Injured animals or birds and animal cruelty - RSPCA
If
you find an injured animal or bird then please report it to the RSPCA's 24-hour
national cruelty and advice line 0300 1234 999.
You will need to provide details of the animal and precise location.
Where possible and safe to do so, confine the animal and/or stay with it, keeping it quiet, still and warm. Do NOT attempt to feed or give water to any injured animal.
Although the RSPCA can be contacted at any time of day or night, RSPCA inspectors can only attend calls outside normal office hours (9am - 5pm, Monday to Friday) in an emergency. The Society will always do its best to help an animal in need.
The Society relies entirely on voluntary donations so please understand that its resources are far more limited than the other emergency services.
You can also refer to the RSPCA's website which give advice on a wide range of subjects :
- RSPCA website (www.rspca.org.uk)
- RSPCA website - Reporting cruelty to animals (www.rspca.org.uk/allaboutanimals/helpandadvice/reportinganimalsindistress/crueltychecklist)
- RSPCA
website - Reporting animals in distress (www.rspca.org.uk/allaboutanimals/helpandadvice/reportinganimalsindistress)
- RSPCA
website - FAQs : General advice for all animals and birds (www.rspca.org.uk/allaboutanimals/helpandadvice) -
eg :
- Tricky problems - Birds : What to do with oiled birds, injured swans, trapped or tangled birds
- Wildlife - Birds : What to do with injured birds, or abandoned young
birds
- RSPCA website - contact details page (www.rspca.org.uk/utilities/contactus
Advice about sick and injured birds - RSPB
You
can also refer to the RSPB's website for information and advice about :
- RSPB website (www.rspb.org.uk)
- RSPB website - Sick, injured, oiled, stranded and baby birds (www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/health/index.asp)
- RSPB website - Sick birds (www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/health/sickbirds/index.asp)
- RSPB website - Helping birds (www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/index.asp)
- RSPB website - FAQs about injured, dead or baby birds (www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/health/faqs.asp)
See also on our website :

