Hey all, I've been doing some serious research in the past couple of days and am awaiting to talk to the rabies specialist at the local health dept tomorrow. The reason is that I had picked up a fresh (within 1/2 hour or so) roadkilled river otter Sunday evening. I had already skinned it and removed the head for my collection of skulls. I wore latex gloves during this process. Afterwords I salted (I'm oldfashioned...) the skin and prepared for the defleshing (is this right?) I wiped down my knife (the same one used for skinning) with baby wipes, which I always have handy, and started to clean the salted skin. During removing the fatty and tissue layers I barely 'pricked' the knuckle of my thumb. It didn't hurt and at this point I can't even remember if it bled... There is no sign of infection of the wound but paranoia has set in. I'm generally laid back but do have paranoia on occasion and post traumatic stress disorder. I don't know if I'm letting this whole thing get to me or if I need to get the shots. I'll know tomorrow but I do want other opinions from other 'roadkill taxidermists' and professionals. Thank you in advance and maybe my next post will be a bit happier!
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rabies is pasted on in the saliva the last ten days of the animals life.
ask a Vet they (most) don't even know when the virus dies some will say immediatley and others will say something different. I personally wouldn't worry if it had been dead for as long as you said. DON'T WORRY about it.
I wouldn't worry about it either, as otters aren't as prone to rabies as fox, skunks and raccoons. If you are still paranoid after talking to your specialist, take the skull in to be tested (if you haven't already cleaned it!).
Wolfie
because this one freaks you out too much
Thank you all for your responses! I love this hobby but haven't done anything for 12 years! I used to have a huge collection of skins and skulls but it was all lost in a move. I don't work on stuff as much as I used to but I have all the catalogs and do faux mounts too, heh heh.
If you do taxidermy much you are going to cut yourself. As careful as I am I still nick myself on a regular basis. Maybe its just me. Luckily they are normally just little nicks. Good luck. If it bothers you that much try the kevlar fish skining gloves over the rubber gloves. These are supposed to stop a knife blade. I've never used them though, but have seen them.
like the other guy said your going to cut your self on a regular basis no mater how careful you are accidents still happen just this morning while shaving a cape i sliced the tip of my middle finger off about 1/4 in worth scared the crap out of me but thank God it didn't hurt as much as i would have expected
good luck
Hey all! I talked to alot of people and found out that since there was no saliva involved that I have nothing to worry about! When I was big into skinning and tanning years ago I know I must have cut and nicked myself many times... I guess now that I'm older and a bit wiser I think about these things a bit more. But the rabies expert at the health dept. said that it is transmittable only thru saliva and no other fluid. I was told that it would be a good idea to get the pre'exposure shots though if I plan to continue this hobby.