Exhibiting Taxidermy of Endangered Species

[Paul Pawlaczyk]

An upcoming wild animal art exhibit here has gotten everyone excited that we can at long last display the "stuffed" animals we've long stored...cougar and timber wolf to name two.

First I think these are old enough to be suspects in poisonous, possibly air-able toxins.
Secondly, I am not sure if an institution is even allowed by Fed regulations to display endangered species.

Your thoughts?

[T. Ashley McGrew]

If they are already in your collection I would think that you are probably not in any serious legal trouble as far as that goes. I would be careful in terms of handling methodology for your taxidermy specimens though. What is funny is that along with an increasing level of awareness about potential contamination of this kind of collections materials there is a corresponding degree of attention on testing. This concern is especially common in dealing with ethnographic and natural history collections where specimens/artifacts were routinely treated in the past with various heavy metals to try and prevent insect infestation. What I think is humorous it that most testing is pointless. I have worked in a collection where a large portion of the collection demonstrated varying degrees of this hazardous condition. That is part of the problem - even if you test one object that doesn't give you data on the object on the shelf next to it. In fact it would be entirely possible to test part of an object and still miss contamination on other parts of the object.
So what do you do if you have really high levels of contamination on portions of your collection? The answer is that you follow some well-established basic protocols. In other words you treat every object of this type (feathers, fur etc...) as if they were contaminated - which luckily is really not that big a deal.
Some sources will insist that you need to wear "spacesuits" to handle this material safely. The science doesn't back this up. The sources of this kind of information are usually operating along the lines of manufacturers of products who spend pages of text telling you that you shouldn't insert your new consumer product into your eye socket, up your nose or set it on fire and breathe in the fumes. In other words they go overboard to cover their behinds. In truth what you do is to systematically vacuum the objects to eliminate loose contaminates while wearing disposable gloves and washable lab coats to prevent contamination of your street clothes and therefore you home environment. After handling collections it is common to wash up with a soap called D-Lead which chelates any potential heavy metals you might have accidentally encountered. Both gloves and vacuum bags should be disposed of as hazardous waste to be on the safe side. Recommendations for the use of respirators, and protective eyewear and headgear are vastly overstated under normal conditions. If you want guidelines on this kind of thing let me know and I can hook you up. The main thing is that it is really not a major challenge it just requires the consistent use of some basic precautions.
Best,

Ashley

[Jamie Hascall]

I'll concur with Ashley on taking basic handling precautions but not being to freaked out about the whole thing. We just did an entire show of Navajo saddle blankets that included many that had been arsenic treated (Siburized) over the years. Our conservation department did testing with an XRF scanner to quantify the level of contamination. We mostly used the knowledge to design the exhibit in a way that any of the highly contaminated artifacts were not at all accessible to be touched by the public. Otherwise, the arsenic was well bound to the fibers and any particles that might come free were heavy enough that they would not tend to be airborne . I'd go ahead and use your critters, just plan things in a way that they can't be touched. Have fun!

[T. Ashley McGrew]

1256
Glad I wasn't working in those days!

[Paul Pawlaczyk]

1256
Glad I wasn't working in those days!

Thanks for your help...but here's another question..regarding the dreaded MOTH BALLS. We have insects and foul in storage with mothballs - in an atmosphere so strongly fragrant with moth ball odor that it makes me sick. I know it's bad to inhale this stuff - but HOW BAD...and can I switch to something non-mothball?