A somewhat gruesome story from the Ottawa Sun, where they’ve analyzed the data behind calls to the City of Ottawa about dead animals. Turns out Stittsville had fewer calls (42) than any ward in the city. The most common animal reported in Stittsville was a cat.
Here’s an excerpt:
In the 12 months ending July 27, 2015, the city responded to 2,669 requests for dead-animal cleanup. The records the city keeps are complaints from the public, so there could be multiple complaints for one animal.
The Sun reviewed all 2,669 requests to get an idea of where animals are most likely to meet their doom in Ottawa.
The work of scraping animal remains off municipal rights of way falls to the city’s roads branch, headed by manager Luc Gagne, who explained what happens when staff are dispatched.
Workers take dead animals to designated municipal yards. Wildlife is buried, while domestic animals are stored in freezers.
Domestic animals are placed in bags with the time and location of pickup, so if owners can identify the remains, they can take their pets. A contracted company disposes of the unclaimed pets left in the freezer.
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The honour for having the most requests for dead animals goes to the rural ward of West Carleton-March with 178.
Perhaps as expected, the majority of the calls in West Carleton-March were about dead deer. There wasn’t a single call about a dead squirrel in those 12 months.
But in the urban wards, like Rideau-Vanier and Kitchissippi, dead squirrel calls are the most common.
Osgoode ward had the greatest variety of animals found dead on city property. The animals included a turtle, moose, cow, wolf, fox and several porcupines.
The safest ward for animals could be Stittsville, which only registered 42 service requests.
If you really want to, you can read the full article here.