the bandit

Although captive raccoons have been known to live over 20 years, their average life expectancy in the wild is only 1.8 to 3.1 years. In many areas, hunting and vehicular injury are the two most common causes of death.

This female raccoon was found on the corner of a busy highway and a secondary side street. The October air kept it in fairly decent shape until a friend informed me of her location. From a distance it looked fairly large and was wondering if I could carry it myself or ask for help. Upon closer inspection, I realized quickly why animals 'poof' their hair out. It was only about 15 lbs (looked 40-50lbs from a distance).

The smell was horrific. I have come upon other species weeks old, covered with maggots, and haven't experienced this smell. It was immediate upon dissection that the diet of the city raccoon attributes to the pungent smell. The fat layers were an average of 1" thick and the glands were fairly large. The internal (stomach and bowel) organs were not severely punctured which can attribute to the aroma, however, they were intact.

Tools:
• Smell: incence
• Lighting: house lamp light (it was 8:30pm mid-October)
• Entertainment: The Office via Netflix
• Cutting: Exacto knife
• Disposal: 2 garbage bags and 4 paper towels

Upon inspection, the cause of death was due to cervical (4-5) fracture and internal hemorrhaging (upper torso). Other wounds were a broken front right leg. My guess is that is was dead for 3 days due to the following:

• dried eye sockets, but not eaten
• gas inflated intestines
• small/no amount of large bug infestation

business card holder

This project was needed for a local restaurant. The purpose was to hold business cards and to-go menus. The establishment is located in an old school, so the finished piece was constructed from antique books and rulers.

active

The bugs are extremely active. The top 2 skulls have been in for two weeks.

sunday morning

I woke from a late Sunday morning slumber to find this creature on my living room floor. It may have been erotic asphyxia, but I'm thinking that my cat Bueller may have had a lot to do with it, since there were feathers covering 30% of the living room floor. Placement in the bugs was preceded by a classic rendition of the Lord's Prayer. I was thankful for the bird's intention to go far, flourish and be its best.

my insides

An MRI of my right hand.

chameleon

micah's most recent restoration project was a five year old chameleon. the end result for the client will be a mounted skeleton in a shadow box and the skin tanned and preserved like a bear skin rug.

it took 30 minutes to cut the underbelly. every scale had to be cut individually in order to stay exactly down the center of the white stripe.

the tail was difficult because the only way to hold onto the small amount of skin was to use tweezers.

it took about 3 hours to skin the entire lizard because the skin was so delicate and thin. she didn't take out the innards because the collapsable ribs covered too much of the abdomen.

the dermisted beetles shockingly devoured the flesh and innards in less than 24 hours.

intentions

cats are great hunters, but their original intention seems more playful and less homicidal.