“We really do cruise the streets every day–but not specifically to look for dead animals,” says Scott Purr.
Purr owns the Critter Control franchise in Green Oak Township, which has a contract with the city of Ann Arbor to pick up its roadkill. Purr explains that if they’re on a call within the city limits and see an animal in the road, they retrieve it. Otherwise, they respond to work orders from the Ann Arbor Police Department.
Purr says his company picks up more than 300 animals annually from city streets–mostly skunks, raccoons, rabbits, and squirrels. Pets, fortunately, are very rare. Since winning the $13,500 annual contract in 2009, Purr says, “we’ve only come across two dogs in the last three years, and no cats that I can remember.”
When Critter Control started working for the city, “our biggest task, really, was making sure we had somewhere to take the animals,” he says. “I understand that was the city’s biggest issue, too: What are they supposed to do with them?”
Deer have to be dealt with immediately because of their size, but smaller animals are kept in a freezer until it’s full, then taken to a pet crematorium or, occasionally, the landfill. Purr located crematoria in Scio Township, Whitmore Lake, and Brighton that will accept them.
“It’s hard to find one of those because you cannot interchange human and animal remains in a crematorium,” Purr says. “I found that out. I’ve learned quite a bit about crematoriums the last few years because of this.”
