A friend of mine recently got his full size lion back from the taxidermist. It looks very nice except it had a basketball size hole it its side.(luckily it could not be seen as it is placed against the wall. The outfitter says its the tannery. The tannery says its bad salt or not enough salt. Again, the hole was very round.
Any ideas or similar experiences. I'd like to know. thanks

Chuck, 99.9% of the problems you describe are caused by poor field care of the animal. BY "lion", I'm assuming you mean mountain lion. If it was African lion, it was likely a salting (or lack thereof) that did it. If it was a cougar, then it's possible that the taxidermists didn't salt it thoroughly enough or quickly enough, but since we make our living doing this, it's just a stretch for me to believe that. If the animal lay in its own blood, if the gut was blown open and allowed to permeate the hide, then those are the first bad things that can happen. If the animal is transported in a way where it lies on a warm or hot surface, it's gonna happen. Slipping at the tannery IS possible but just as unlikely. Since the epidermal layer has basically rotted underneath and sloughed off, then you see why the field care is so imperative. A just killed or recently killed animal is the prime candidate for such an event being set in motion. Once it does, nothing that we know of today is going to stop those same results from being displayed.

Are you talking African lion or mountain lion? Why does that matter, you may say. Well..just curious. Hard to say on this one. Tanneries have been known to have a shaver put a good sized hole in a skin from time to time. If there was something in the hair causing it to be thicker than normal, such as pine sap on a mountain lion, the hide would not be flat as it was shaved thus allowing for error. If the hide was laying in blood on it's side and not cleaned off well, blood will promote bacteria growth rapidly in ideal situations, thus causing slippage when it got to the tannery. There is a possibility of taxidermy error, but in this case it is very unlikely to miss an area like that in the salting. We also have no idea how it was cared for in the field. There are numerous variables which could come into play on all parties part, so it would be very difficult to place blame anywhere without being directly involved and knowlegable of the care of the specimen from start to finish.

An interesting and puzzling scenerio we ran into a few years ago with a bear: We had a client, well informed on field care, go into the field and harvest a very nice black bear. He took all the proper steps in handling the bear and got it into us ASAP. We skinned off the head and removed the feet, salted, dryed and sent it off to the tannery. The bear came back with a large(size of a basketball) patch of hair missing on the chest. We knew by the condition of the bear when it arrived at the shop that it had been taken care of well in the field and we knew things went well on our end. The tannery could not be at fault as it was the hair missing, not a hole. Well a few months later the client brought in his hunting pictures of this bear and there as big as day was our answer. Our Arizona fall bear hunts can sometimes have you hunting in 100 degree temperatures. Well in the picture you could see the bear propped up on a very large rock right in the area that bald spot was. I am sure that rock was very hot sitting in the Az. sun all day and without a doubt it had caused the slippage in that area of the skin. With the bears hair being so thick there was no evidence of the cooked spot.

So I guess my point is, it is very hard to point a finger at anyone and answers are not always obvious with second hand knowledge.

Kind Regards,
Mary

It was an African Lion. The taxidermist was able to put a lion skin patch in but it will always have to have its back to the wall. Since you know its African now what is your opinion??? Thanks

Same opinion. Poor field care.

while it is probably poor field care, I've had the tanneries screw up on more than 1 occassion

Once again, what is done is done. What will speculations do at this point. I have seen many more problems with African skins than any others we deal with, for whatever consolation that may be to you.

Kind Regards,
Mary

I've seen both sides of the coin in Africa: too little salt and way more than needed. I'd always want too much than too little. But you mention a hole being patched. Too little salt won't eat holes in skins. Tanneries however, will. Unless your friend used a 105mm Howitzer to kill his Lion, I'd suspect the Tannery, but as mentioned, proving it would be near impossible. LDK