Mummified Paws

The following text is an excerpt from The Age newspaper (Melbourne), Nov. 27, 1970, page 2, article entitled "The cruel camera cuts into psyche like a scalpel," which details how the kangaroo paws were sourced for the Skippy TV show. The taxidermist's name must be a pseudonym.

I've spoiler-marked the somewhat graphic details, so if you're sensitive, don't mouse-over it.

The cruel camera cuts into psyche like a scalpel [excerpt]:

ONE of TV's busiest "behind-the-scenes" specialists is Mr. N.E.
Crophile--the Altona taxidermist who provides the mummified paws
for Skippy (9).

At 5.30 a.m. daily, Mr. Crophile hies to the Bark dog food
factory, where he retrieves, from the offal basket, the paws of a
dozen slaughtered kangaroos.

"As a conservationist, and an admirer of Prince Phillip, I refuse
to shoot the creatures myself," he told me with quiet pride.

Few viewers realised, said Mr. Crophile, that Skippy's surrogate
paws require constant replacement.

"In the hurly-burly of rehearsals and shootings," he said, "we
have found the average paw is good for only four salutes, two
ta-tas, and three pushings of fire-alarm buttons."