Sitting in a colourful small workshop filled with varying scraps of leather, animal hides and skins, Trace Pocock knows many people may have a "bad perception" of her line of work.
But the central Queensland taxidermist says the art is all about giving something a second life.
"We do it to preserve a memory, to create something beautiful, to preserve history," Ms Pocock said.
"There are parts of the job that I don't enjoy, but I like looking at the finished product, and go: 'That's something that has turned out really well.'"
At her Clermont taxidermy, tanning and leatherwork business, Ms Pocock works largely with feral animals that have been found dead or culled as part of pest programs, as well as imported pest species.
She's worked on everything from foxes and wild dogs to pet commissions, and often uses local livestock hides for her tanning and leather work.
"I'm taking something that is a by-product of the meat industry that would otherwise be thrown away," she said.
"I can change it and make it into something that lasts and can be passed down from generation to generation."
A self-taught craftswoman
After deciding to try her hand at leatherwork as a hobby several years ago, Ms Pocock purchased a second-hand kit online and then taught herself the necessary skills with online videos and tutorials.
Her work with tanning then lent itself to her fascination with taxidermy and she began to offer it as a service through her business.
While she acknowledges some people may be opposed to the practice, Ms Pocock sees it as a creative outlet.
"I'd like to think that perceptions are changing," she said.
"We don't go out and take these animals for the art form … the foxes that I do are killed as part of pest programs.
"I like to think that I'm taking something that is going to be thrown away and I'm giving it an extra life."
Ms Pocock said it was especially fitting to be working in the male-dominated leatherwork industry in Clermont, as the town was home to trailblazer Rose Harris — believed to be the only woman saddler in Australia in the 1920s and 1930s.
"It's a great honour to be in the same town that she was from … and I've been very lucky to view and handle some of her pieces of leatherwork," Ms Pocock said.
"She was an amazing craftswoman … it's quite an honour to kind of be following in her footsteps to a certain extent."
Changing industry
In Australia, no licence is required when working with feral or domestic animals in taxidermy, however, there are strict licences required for any work with native animals, and they differ between states.
The Australian Association of Wildlife Artists vice president Gary Pegg said as more women like Ms Pocock became involved in the industry the scope of work was also changing and broadening.
"Women are doing more craft work, more experimental work," Mr Pegg said.
"Now it's reproductions and recreations … there's no straightforward textbook way about it. It's going to another level."
He said, given the nature of the work, it "came with the territory" that there would always be people who did not appreciate taxidermy as an industry or art form.
"[But] art is meant to make people think, and it's exactly what this does."
