Sources

Where this comes from

Every statement on this site about a Colorado agency, a city or county, or a state or federal rule was read on the source's own page or in the rule text, and dated. This list is generated from the pages themselves, so it cannot drift from what the site cites.

The rules we work to

• Official sources only. Statutes, regulations, city and county pages, municipal codes, and the contractors a government names as its service. Never a directory, a competitor or a search-engine summary. Three summaries found during the research were contradicted by the real pages.
• Scope is preserved. A rule about live nuisance animals is not written up as a rule about dead ones, a road service is not written up as a yard service, and a county's policy is not attributed to the cities inside it.
• Absence is reported as absence. Where we searched and found nothing, such as a statewide removal deadline or a licence specific to dead-animal work, the page says we found nothing, not that none exists.
• Nothing is called free unless the source says so. Where an agency publishes no fee, this site says no fee is published.
• Unverifiable means omitted. A claim that could not be confirmed on the day is left out.

Things we deliberately do not say

Each of these came up during the research and was left out or bounded, because the evidence did not support the version that circulates:

• That no licence is needed to remove dead animals in Colorado. We found no licence specific to the work, which is a different statement, and city or county business licensing was not part of the research.
• That Colorado Parks and Wildlife will not remove dead animals. CPW's published sentence is about live nuisance animals.
• That Colorado's health department tells households to put dead animals in the trash. The bag-and-bin advice on this site is attributed to the counties and agencies that publish it.
• Burial distances. The figures that circulate come from 2015 state guidance written for livestock and mass die-offs, including a one-mile setback from any residence that no suburban yard could meet.
• That a found deer must be tested for chronic wasting disease, or cannot be moved because of it. We found no such rule. Nor do we say the disease is no concern.
• That anyone may keep roadkill meat, or the antlers or other valuable parts of an animal found dead. Meat needs CPW authorization, and parts with trophy or commercial value are disposed of under CPW's direction.
• That it is illegal to pick up a dead wild bird. That stopped being true federally on December 31, 2024.
• Any number of days for a smell to clear. Where the site discusses how long a smell lasts, it is labelled as a field pattern, not a laboratory figure.

Every source used, and where

50 sources. All were read on 30 September 2026 unless stated otherwise.

Corrections

Agencies revise pages, ordinances get amended, and service catalogs change with budgets. If something here no longer matches what an agency publishes, or if you work for one of them and we have described your service wrongly, tell us through the contact form. Corrections get made and the date on the page gets updated.

Nothing on this site is legal advice. Where a rule carries money or a legal obligation, confirm it with the agency directly.