if a hide has been tanned. then some time gose by(4yrs.) then it is soaked-up for taxidermy. and it starts to easlie tear, around the feet and nose. can this be stopped? can one retan it? or nutrelize it some how?
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Sounds like you got it bad and as for saving it? I don't know. You can try mixing up some salt water and spraying it on the tanned cape and see if this helps. But the way your discribing it, all may be lost.
It seems more than likely that it was tanned and retained a lot of Sulphate residual. This residual slowly absorbs atmospheric moisture over time and forms Sulphuric Acid in the skin. In turn, the acid slowly breaks down the bonding of the fibers and drastically weakens it. When you go to resoak it - it accelerates this process. When you go to mount it - the skin usually tears like paper, or your stitches tear out when you try to snug them tight.
Once this has happened - there is no way to reverse it. It can't be retanned and neutralizing it will do very little.