Beast of burden

Question: What happens to Baton Rouge Zoo animals after they die?

Answer: Like it or not, you’re about to find out.

Kind warning: If you happen to be eating, I’d stop reading now and visit this lovely article later.

When animals at the Baton Rouge Zoo die, all but the primates go to LSU. Initial paperwork is done on the animal, documenting any known patient history and to label from whence the animal came.

A full diagnostic necropsy is performed to determine cause of death: a full dissection, tissue samples and possible bacterial cultures and toxicology. Dan Paulsen, professor in pathobiological sciences and veterinary pathologist at LSU, says they receive two to three animals a week from the zoo (anything from a crow to a zebra), with greater frequency in the springtime from newborn babies that don’t make it. And occasionally, LSU will receive animals from the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. Paulsen has performed necropsies on such notables as a hippo and an elephant for the Audubon Zoo.

If an animal is too large to be brought indoors, like the aforementioned elephant, any necessary work is performed in a curtained area of the vet school loading dock. When they do fit, there are hoists and various other machines to help move the carcasses. After all the work is done, animals are then incinerated right there at the Vet School. “We don’t want to haul dissected animals across town,” Paulsen says. “That wouldn’t be good.”

The incinerator can hold 3,000 pounds in a single burn, which tends to take six to eight hours, depending on the contents. Paulsen estimates the Audubon elephant he worked on probably took 12 to 18 hours to burn. How hot does it get in there? “Hot enough,” Paulsen says.

Thanks to Sam Winslow, general curator with the Baton Rouge Zoo, and Dan Paulsen with LSU for providing the details on this admittedly morbid, yet equally intriguing topic.