Carcass disposal

You may need to dispose of carcasses if they present a disease risk to humans or other animals, for example, when they are close to water points or homes.

Human safety

Before you consider moving any dead animals, it's important to consider your own safety first.

There are several bacterial diseases in water, wet soil and carcasses that can cause serious diseases in humans.

Wear appropriate personal protective equipment, such as:

  • gloves
  • leather or rubber boots
  • clothes that cover as much skin as possible
  • respiratory and eye protection.

You should:

  • handle the carcasses as little as possible
  • use machines if they are available
  • wash your hands well with soap and water.

If you feel unwell after disposing carcasses, call 13HEALTH (13 43 25 84).

Carcass burial

Where possible, we recommend burying carcasses to prevent surviving stock encountering the decaying material.

10–15 carcasses

To minimise the risk of contaminating soil, groundwater and surface water sources you should:

  • only put 10–15 carcasses in each burial pit if the carcasses are intact, to minimise the potential for fluid movement as one adult bovine carcass can release up to 160L
  • space burial pits more than 25m apart
  • cover the carcasses with at least 2m of topsoil.

More than 10–15 carcasses

If you need to bury more than 10–15 head in each burial pit, seek advice about individual site suitability.

Call the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation pollution hotline on 1300 130 372.

Good sites for burial

A good site for burial pits will be:

  • more than 300m from a bore
  • more than 200m from a house/dwelling
  • more than 250m from underground or above-ground infrastructure (e.g. powerlines, water pipes, sewerage)
  • more than 100m from a surface water source in its usual location
  • on a slope of less than 6%.

Burial pits should be:

  • made on stable soils with low permeability
  • have groundwater at a depth of greater than 10m—that is, a minimum 5m deep pit plus 5m buffer equals 10m surface to groundwater level
  • covered with at least 2m of topsoil.

Alternative carcass disposal options

If burial pits aren't possible, you can apply lime over the carcasses to discourage flies and insects.

Don't use lime on carcasses in burial pits as it will slow the decomposition down.