We had guest speakers last Tuesday; the head of the mammology department came and talked about the accessioning of mammals and birds - we learned about how new specimens are acquired: Road kill, collecting trips (which utilize traps and euthanasia), people bringing in dead animals, and window strikes - I love the language of that last one - basically bird strike. We also learned about whale fall - before the museum can acquire a new whale specimen, it has to undergo a decomposition process. Whale fall doesn't always happen in shallow waters, so the museum contracted with a mink farm that has a giant metal pot where the skull of the whale could be boiled down. It wasn't totally clear, but it sounded like the flesh boiled off of the skeleton could be used to produce mink food. Someone raised an interesting question around ethics - i.e. what are the ethical implications of contracting with a fur farm to prep a specimen for accession?
Euthanasia was defined as meaning "good death" - we learned about how small animals are captured in traps and then placed inside a jar with a cotton ball soaked in halothane - within 10 seconds the animal is asleep, another 10 seconds and the animal's heart stops beating and it dies. Animals are euthanized while in the field - because to bring them back to the museum for euthanasia would create prolonged distress and suffering. Someone asked about secondary measures to insure death. Neckbreaking is a common measure. A lot of information. A lot.
