The Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office has moved away from its past practice of removing non-hazardous animal carcasses from beside roadways, a supervisor with that office says.
Shawnee County animal control, a support unit of the sheriff’s office, removes carcasses that are considered traffic hazards from roadways in Shawnee County, Sgt. Todd Stallbaumer said in an email Friday.
That unit also may remove carcasses that pose issues in certain non-highway settings, Stallbaumer said.
“As a courtesy, Shawnee County animal control has traditionally assisted with the removal of animal carcasses on the side of roadways,” he said. “More recently, however, animal control has moved away from this type of non-hazardous carcass removal to focus on their responsibility to enforce state and local animal laws in Shawnee County.” Kansas statute 68-115 requires counties and townships to remove obstructions in roadways, and Shawnee County counselor Jim Crowl said in an email Thursday it was his understanding that Shawnee County animal control is responsible for removing carcasses of dead animals from roads.
“However, we were advised last summer of a policy change whereby animal control would move off of the roadway any animals in the actual roadway that might pose a traffic hazard and allow ‘nature to take its course,’ ” Crowl said. “I was told that this was being done as a cost-saving measure.”
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