I have a question about an animal decomposing in the pond. I know it takes oxygen to break down plant matter so I am assuming an animal carcass would also take oxygen. How critical is it to remove a carcass of say a 20-30 pound animal?
Thanks,
gethooked
31/2 acre lmb wc bg res & grass carp

Probably not but it may still be a good idea to get it out.

When I was tween, I was pseudo-skating on a pond that belonged to a neighbor. It is about 3 acres in size and at the time had a good number of 2 to 4 lb LMB and 7" to 9" BG. While on the pond, I noticed 6 dead cows under the ice ... though there may have been more. The fishing was greatly affected the following year shifting to many small BG and few bass. Many people I've told the story to claimed that cattle dying in a pond would ruin it. To be sure, I don't know what role it played but it seems plausible the decaying cattle affected the fish population.

But there is a big difference between 6 cows and a 30 lb animal. I think I would remove it just from a sanitation perspective.

I'd say if you have turtles in the pond...20 to 30 pounds would take care of itself in a 1/4 adcre pond or larger, but it would stink for a while. I had a large snapper (10 to 15 pounds) die in the pond. It sunk imediately after dying for a day (lead posioning - I had more of them than I wanted at the time), then bloated and resurfaced and stunk for a week. At the end of week 3 it was nothing but a shell. Other turtles and crawdads ate good for that time.

I'd remove a larger animal to avoid the stink at the pond otherwise it's a intresting show of the feeding habits of the scavenger types.

This critter ran a little more than 20 - 30#. Oddly, the snappers and other pond scavengers seemed to have no interest in dining. What causes that?

Excellent humor Bski !!! Best I have seen in many years !!! T debris in the pond.

Gethooked I would not worry about the permanent visitor unless it smelled or you think it to unsanitary. Ponds are not clean - aka- fish and other waste depository.

Nobody ever compliments me on the nice algal bloom in that picture.

Or on how cool my Aviators look.