If there is only a small amount of rot, the dead material can be cut away.

VOA: special.2010.06.08

"Dead Souls" is about Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, who travels the provincial countryside buying up dead serfs from small landowners.

WSJ: Surveying the Surging Immensity of Life | Dead Souls | Nikolai Gogol | By Joseph Epstein

"Kites are opportunistic scavengers, to conserve energy they feed mostly on worms and small dead animals, which they can see from a great height", Mr Straughan said.

BBC: Back from the brink, Red Kites return

The blind man and his guide move away down the narrow streets of the small, dead town.

NEWYORKER: See the Other Side