In the past, carcass disposal has been addressed in the response to disasters. In some cases the absence of a plan to dispose of carcasses has led to costly delays, haphazard choices of disposal methods, and awkward compromises in an attempt to balance cost, public health, environmental protection, and biosecurity. This lack of planning led to greatly increased costs of response operations.

In some cases carcasses are disposed of similar to other disaster debris; however, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find local disposal facilities that will accept large numbers of carcasses. Therefore, farmers, producers, renderers, emergency managers, veterinarians, extension agents, and others should spend time planning for large-scale carcass disposal. It is very important to develop these plans at the local level, because of the individuality of issues that arise in each community.