Thursday, August 5, 2010

WBTV's John Carter Deals with a Dead Animal

On this morning's news show WBTV's John Carter takes on the task of removing a dead animal. Unfortunately he shows viewers that the way to get rid of a dead animal is to toss it into a City of Charlotte roll-out garbage can.

OPPS!

From WBTV:

See, Click, Fix is getting answers and a solution to a somewhat "icky" problem in an east Charlotte neighborhood: a dead opossum.

A viewer writes: Started as a dead opossum, called animal control, now it has turned into a maggot infested carcass. Location is an empty resident. This has to be a health issue now!"

We checked it out and sure enough there was a dead opossum in the back yard and no one living in the home. So what should you do about dead animals here in Charlotte? First, do not call Animal Control as the department does not handle dead animals. That's the responsibility of the city's Solid Waste department. You can do one of two things: Call 3-1-1. They'll take your information and get it to the right people. Or you can go online to www.Char-Meck.org On the main page click on Garbage Recycling, then there's a link to Dead Animal Collection. From there you can fill out a form and request to have the carcass picked up.

According to the web page, "dead animals are collected from city streets and from residences but the resident is responsible for placing animal curbside. We did just that (BY PUTTING THE DEAD THING IN THE ROLLOUT TRASH CONTAINER) and the problem has now been solved.

Watch WBTV's John Carter trash a Opossum here.

Read the CMPD's instructions on dead animals here.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

John Carter on this end! Thanks for watching! I must admit...it appears I went against policy by putting that bag in the trash...but that was actually meant to emphasize a point of removing the carcass from the property. We actually took that bag out of the can...left it on the curb...and contacted the city about removal. I should have made that clear during the story. So thanks for pointing out my mixed message! I'll try to do better next time!

Anonymous said...

Cedar you got to admit that throwing the dead opossum in the garbage can and dropping the lid had a nice dramatic effect.

Anonymous said...

As a city employee for 24 year I can tell ypu nothing more nasty than having a dead animal in your truck and we get them all the time John Carter needs to issue a on air statement NOT to put dead animals in the trash.

Anonymous said...

Hello again...John Carter with WBTV here once more! Great comment from the 24 year city employee...good suggestion which I will follow up on during Friday morning's show! I appreciate the input!

Anonymous said...

I think the entire segment is funny. It was a real slow news day. But ditto for Cedar Posts.

I can see how a dead skunk wouild bad in a garbage container but what about a bird or mouse?

Is that against the rules?

Note to Mr. Carter if you closed with a shot of you holding the bag and a big smile and nothing else leaving the viewer to ask what did you do with it?

Now that would have been funny.

Anonymous said...

The really funny part is that some idiot called WBTV to report a dead critter.

Have people become so lazy, or do they just lack the basic skills to deal with such small troubles?

I'm amazed at how helpless some people are.

Maybe we really do need a "nanny state".

Anonymous said...

John Carter from WBTV News on this end once again...and I hope you got to watch this morning (Friday) as we tried to make it abundantly clear: DO NOT PUT DEAD ANIMALS IN THE TRASH CAN! We did a follow up on our dead animals in the yard story. Thanks for the input on this issue...and don't hesitate to let me know when you see something that doesn't seem to be quite right. It really helps to get this kind of response.

Anonymous said...

To Mr. Carter,

I really like your work on WBTV. Don't let cranky cedar posts cramp your style.

Seriously did anyone other than cedar notice your small faux pax?

I doubt it.

Billy Fehr said...

John Carter,
You are the most authentic local new fellow in town. Keep up the good work!

Rea Road Neighborhood Coalition said...

I'll second what Billy said.

And raise you one better. Cedar Posts doesn't watch phony news anchors ever!

Thanks for the replies John.

Cedar Posts Out!