This page was updated Dec. 2025.
Wellesley and surrounding towns are rich in, well, not just rich people. Deer, coyotes, muskrats, and even black bears call the town home.
How the heck do you get a dead deer out of your yard?
Dec. 2025–As any Wellesley resident can tell you, plenty of deer roam the town. Since discharging firearms is not legal in Wellesley, the beautiful beasts are molested only by moving vehicles, and coyotes, which pop in from time to time. Since Wellesley Animal Control won’t help you out if a dead deer winds up on your property, here are your options.
Let it lie there. Coyotes, who probably killed it in the first place, will be back for seconds. PAThey may move the body some distance from your property, but in the end, they will pick that animal clean, and when they reach that point, you probably will not see them again on your property.
Hire a licensed Problem Animal Control (PAC) agent. The state has a list you can review in case an animal is damaging your property or posing a threat to your safety. A dead deer under the swing set qualifies. Semi-retired PAC Stephen Marken says, “The coyotes will return to feed on the dead deer over several days. They may move the body some distance from your property, but in the end, they will pick that animal clean, and when they reach that point, you probably will not see them again on your property. I’ve seen this pattern over the years.”
Where there are dead deer, there are live ticks
“It is highly likely that the ground where the deer actually died may have many adult ticks. It is quite common for several ticks to move off the carcass once the body cools down. These are the ticks that carry Lyme disease,” Marken says.
Unfortunately, there’s a good chance that the ticks the deer hosted in life will survive it through the winter. The good news is that cold temperatures will probably limited tick movement to the immediate area around the deer corpse. Come spring, it would be prudent to hire a pest control company to spray your yard..
Deer
There’s not just one in town, that’s for sure. But residents generally aren’t calling for the herd to be culled.
Coyote
Summer 2023
They’re all over Wellesley. and residents aren’t nearly as tolerant of coyotes as they are of Bambi.
A post that makes the rounds regularly on social media reads something along the lines of, “Just saw a beautiful (!) coyote at the crossing of Hampshire and Lowell. Careful with your pets!”
Responses to such posts either praise the beauty of coyotes, or call for an immediate culling of the population. Coyotes—you either love ’em or hate ’em.
Black Bear
June, 2023 (Black bear finally visits Wellesley)
Owl, March 2023
Muskrat at Wellesley office park
Jan. 2023
Photogenic fisher cat
Sept. 2022
A fisher cat knew what it was doing by roaming around Wellesley resident and photographer Beth Shedd’s yard. Shedd can make anybody look their best on camera, as you can see in this 11 seconds of glory for “Freddy” that she posted on social media this week (and allowed us to share).
Heron on the Charles River
Spring 2020
Canada Geese
Spring 2023
Red-tailed hawk
Spring 2020
Snake
Spring 2020
Suzy Littlefield shared the story about the photo below of a snake:
“While walking down the Sudbury path to Guernsey Sanctuary on Thursday I saw a frog in the stream. I went to get a picture but the snake was faster! You can just see a leg or two coming out of his mouth.”
Turkeys
Winter 2020
A flock of local gobblers paraded behind MassBay Community College, much to the chagrin of drivers.
