Faulty freezer raises stink near taxidermist

as published in Galveston Daily News
01/25/05
By Daniel R. Huron

TEXAS CITY — A broken freezer helped stink up the air around the Bass Taxidermy shop, 632 Fifth Ave. N. in Texas City.

Randy Turner of Bass Taxidermy said he suspects that when the freezer was moved to fix a window a few weeks ago, the plug became disconnected from the unit.

Turner and his father took the freezer outside, but before the garbage collectors could pick it up, the freezer, which contained animal parts, had to be emptied. While it was being emptied, some animal fluids dripped on to the pavement.

On Friday, the Galveston County Health District received complaints from people near the shop about a terrible stench, said health district spokesperson Kurt Koopmann.

Officials from the health district went to the shop and asked the store’s owners to disinfect the pavement with bleach to rid it of the smell.

They did so, Koopmann said, but when the inspectors went to double check the area again, some animal fluid was still on the ground. The storeowners once again cleaned the area. Turner said he must have used about four gallons of bleach to clean the pavement.

Koopmann said the incident didn’t pose a public health risk.

Turner said he is very sorry for the inconvenience the smell may have caused.

“It’s not like we run a nasty place here,” he said. “We’ve been here since 1983 and never had a problem.” Having a freezer go out is “the nightmare scenario when you run a taxidermy,” he said.