looduskalender.ee

One of the tasks of the Estonian Museum of Natural History is to show nature in all its diversity. A variety of mounted birds and animals represent one part of the museum’s collections. Supplementing this collection, including finding animals for preparing exhibits, is a continuing work over many years. Here all can help us, even those who are not professionally engaged in museum work.
Death is a natural part of nature. It happens that an animal or a bird whose life has reached its end, due to old age, disease or accident, is discovered. These animals and birds can be used for preparing mounted exhibits.
When you find a dead animal or bird it must firstly be identified and its condition assessed. An animal already showing signs of decay cannot be made into a mount, and it should be buried or utilised in some other way. If the animal has died recently, shows no signs of decay and appears reasonably intact, that is, there are no injuries that mar the exterior significantly, it should be carefully sealed in a plastic bag and put in a deep freeze. Finding information  -  time of finding, the place, finder’s name – should go with the animal, and if there were any extraordinary or interesting details, these too should be added. It is important that the animal is put into a freezer as soon as possible to avoid decay.

After this the museum should be contacted, telephone 6 603 404 or 6 411 739, to discuss how the animal should be brought to the museum. You can also send a mail to the museum, at muuseum@loodusmuuseum.ee, with details about the found animal and contact information for the finder. Even if you haven’t been able to identify the animal or bird it can be useful to contact the museum – our specialists may be able to help. For identification of an unknown animal it is very helpful if photos of the animal are made and sent with the find data to the mail address above.

On finding a dead animal it is imperative to follow safety requirements. Touching the animal and its body fluids (saliva, blood, etc) with bare hands must be avoided, as all direct contact in general with a dead animal. Wherever possible rubber gloves should be used; if these are not available, hands should be protected with plastic bags. After dealing with a dead animal hands must be carefully washed. Take care with hedgehogs – their spikes are extremely sharp. For handling hedgehogs thickly folded newspapers or strong leather gloves are useful. Many other animals and birds have very sharp claws, necessitating caution in handling them. If an injury occurs, the injured spot must be cleaned and disinfected at once.

If it turns out that the bird or animal belongs to the protection categories I or II, the find must immediately be reported to the Environmental Board, in accordance with the Nature Protection Act. The Environmental Board department decides what is to be done with the find.

It should be emphasized that the above information only concerns birds or animals found dead. The killing of any bird or animal is not permitted. If you find an alive, but sick or injured animal you should contact the Nigula Wild Animal Rehabilitation Centre or Rescue Services (Päästeamet).
Links:

Eesti Loodusmuuseum (Estonian Museum of Natural History), Tallinn Lai 29A
Telephone:(+372)64-11-739; fax:(+372)64-11-738
muuseum@loodusmuuseum.ee

Tiit Hunt