Maggoty manure??? species raccoon, pos. bear

Agree. It's been there a few days to get the maggots up to that stage and the smell to go away. It seems to be decomposing well, and should melt completely into the turf in another couple of days. Maggots will become flies and go find some another pile of animal dung to infiltrate.

Would you like help with your lawn?

This doesn't look like it but for the record you want to avoid raccoon dirt as it often contains raccoon roundworm "eggs". Raccoon roundworm is fatal in humans, because the worms migrate to the brain. One of the modes of infection is inhalation, with the basic process being that the waste soon melts away to leave the "eggs" sitting exposed on top of the soil or other surface (including pavements, building ledges and roof tops) - waiting to be breathed in, like spores.

If interested your state department of health may have web pages about the problem, mine has about 3 entire pages on it up. The groups most prone to infection are children and forest workers, in the latter case because the animals tend to make "latrines" at the bases of trees they sleep in.

The veterinarian for my dogs stated that raccoons have a common latrine and dump in the same spot . I have seen this on my property.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/01/raccoon-latrines-could-have-hidden-impact-ecosystems

Thank you! It's not small, though. Like maybe the size of half a sheet of regular paper. Wouldn't raccoon poo be small, like cat turds? Also, it's in the middle on a large, empty area of my fenced-in yard. Seems like a weird place for raccoons to do their business.

The maggots are gone today.

I just read about the raccoon roundworm... that's disgusting and scary and I have 2 kids and a dog that use the yard.

In my many decades in the forest, I have never seen maggot infested scat of any kind. I have seen many maggot infested carcasses however. The lack of any bones in the photo would have me thinking, that was the entrails/soft tissue of some unfortunate critter. Your fenced in yard kept the scavengers out long enough for the flies to claim it. Two days is enough. I have numerous racoons and Ive never seen anything like that on scat.

Yeah, and like allways I suspected I was stepping into something when I mentioned racoons lol.

Very interesting...raccoon roundworm (nematode) IS very dangerous to humans, but thankfully infections are very rare. Not to mention, most cases seem to be from kids eating contaminated soil...but it is likely less lethal to healthy adults (since healthy individuals have been found with antibodies to it).

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Baylisascariasis as the zoonotic infection of humans is rare, though extremely dangerous due to the ability of the parasite's larvae to migrate into brain tissue and cause damage. Concern for human infection has been increasing over the years due to urbanization of rural areas resulting in the increase in proximity and potential human interaction with raccoons.
Human infection with B. procyonis has been relatively rare, with about 30 cases reported since 1980.
Reported disease has primarily afflicted children and almost all cases were a result of the ingestion of contaminated soil or feces.
It is possible that human infection is more common than diagnosed and most cases do not reach a clinical stage. Antibodies to B. procyonis have been found in otherwise healthy individuals, suggesting subclinical infections.

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That's why I always steer clear of scat, because you never know what pathogens are in them!

Name That Scat!

Old Forester... that's what I was wondering. My dog poops all over that yard and I've never seen maggots in it. On the other hand, if they were guts, how come I didn't them before? We're always out and about in the yard and my whole property is only 1/3 acre.

A couple weeks ago, a groundhog in my garden was acting weird. My dog ran at him, but the critter only ran a little ways and then sat down, panting. My dog is mostly blind and fairly deaf, so he ran on by without seeing him. Then the groundhog ran out of the yard in bursts, sitting and panting between each burst. Wonder if that had anything to do with it?

Jay.....the subject matter IS about scat, why are you derailing ladychroe's thread?

Come to think of it, I don't ever recall ever seeing maggots in scat. On dead animals many times. Oh my, this eternal gauntlet of flashing peacocks and pouting harridans!

Sorry about the topic change it's really about knowing another member has some garden knowledge I need and if I have to wait for a discussion concerning desired subject with that member present I could wait forever, and if knowledgable member is not recieving messages well just how do I get my questions answered without taking a risk and changing topic. I wouldn't stand in the way of a member desperate for knowledge!

I’ve no idea what you’re talking about, Jay. Perhaps some posts have been deleted? However if you want to ask a new question just start a new post, if you want to bring it to a particular person’s attention and they don’t accept messages put their name in your heading.

Floral, yes to a post or two of Jay's being deleted. He was bored with the discussion and wanted his own question answered.

Obviously, the way to do that is to start your own topic, jay.

"This doesn't look like it but for the record"

= it not being stated that the material asked about came out of a raccoon.

This mystery is solved, and luckily it doesn't involve raccoons! It's a decomposed clump of mushrooms. There were several such clumps due to the rain we had. I went to remove one I had seen the day before and it was half broken down already, blackened and seething with the same bugs.

Well, gross, but I guess less gross than decomposed entrails... I may be a nurse, but yuck. Guts on my lawn? No thanks!

;)

Glad you solved it!

@carol: thanks for the web link, they have amazing articles!!