1996 Ford F-150 Disarm Air Bag Remove the Dash

Sadly enough a rotant of some sort got inside the cab of my truck. This is in a metropolitan area, I never experienced anything like this living the past twelve years in a rural area.
Ok so none the less, a rodent left blood foot prints all across the dash board up and down the doors, chewed into a bunch of paper towels for the windows and vanished. Well it apparently parished somewhere in the venitilation system.
Nothing under or up in the seats, nothing readily viewable. Long story short we are now at the point where we will have to remove the dash board and continue the search through the venitilation, this is not a quarantee of finding the problem, but I cannot leave the smell in there much longer, as it will absorb into the heavily upholstered XLT interior.
HOW DO I DISARM THE AIR BAG; WHAT SUGGESTIONS OR CAUTIONS DO YOU HAVE WHILE REMOVING THE DASH BOARD.