The dividing line
Street or private property?
In Youngstown this is not a gray area, and it is worth two minutes because the wrong answer either costs you money you did not need to spend or leaves you waiting on a department that was never coming.
What the City says
Youngstown’s Public Works page carries one sentence that settles most of it:
“The City will remove dead animals on City streets or at the curb. Dead animals on private property are the responsibility of the property owner.”
Street cases go to Public Works on 330-742-8800, or through the City’s SeeClickFix reporting form. Source: youngstownohio.gov/public_works. Confirm it yourself before you act on it. Municipal pages change, and this one was read on 13 September 2026.
So which side are you on?
City’s side
Paved city street, the gutter line, the curb itself.
Call Public Works. You should not be quoted for this.
Yours
Front and back yard, driveway, garage, shed, under a deck or porch, the treeline at the back of the lot, a private drive, a business lot.
That is the commercial job, and it is what this line books.
Two edges worth naming
The tree lawn. The grass between sidewalk and street is generally inside the street right-of-way. Report it first; it costs nothing to ask.
Park land. Mill Creek MetroParks manages its own ground. A carcass inside the park is the park system’s to deal with, not yours and not something you should be paying a contractor to collect.
The statute behind it
Ohio Revised Code § 941.14 puts a disposal duty on the owner of premises where an animal has died, within a reasonable time, and § 941.15 covers what happens when that is ignored. It is the reason the City’s line reads the way it does rather than being a local quirk.
Numbers that are not ours
Youngstown Public Works, 330-742-8800
Listed because you may not need to hire anybody. If the animal is on the street, that is the call to make.
Common questions
Does the City of Youngstown remove dead animals from private property?
No. Youngstown Public Works states that the City will remove dead animals on City streets or at the curb, and that dead animals on private property are the responsibility of the property owner. Public Works can be reached at 330-742-8800, and street cases are reported through the City’s SeeClickFix form.
The animal is in my tree lawn, between the sidewalk and the street. Whose is that?
That strip is usually within the street right-of-way, which is the side of the line the City describes as its own. It costs nothing to report it to Public Works first. If they tell you it sits on your side, the private route is still there.
What about a state route or the interstate through Mahoning County?
State-maintained roadway is ODOT’s, not the City’s and not a contractor’s. Do not walk onto a highway shoulder to reach an animal for any reason.
Is a property owner actually required to deal with it?
Ohio Revised Code 941.14 places a duty on the owner of premises containing a dead animal to dispose of the body within a reasonable time, by burial, burning, rendering or another listed method. Section 941.15 sets out what follows if that does not happen. That is the statewide backdrop to the City’s position.