What's the worst animal-related smell you've ever experienced at work?

I would have to disagree. Working with a Pygmy hippo for most of the week, I still think capybaras smell much worse. But the worst smell I’ve experienced was fruit bats.

 

These are some really interesting replies!

 

Really? The ones I work with ain't that bad; vampire bats smell worse.

 

Seven binturong all at once.

 

My earliest memory is of going to the old Southport Zoo with my Mum aged about two or three years old and crying my eyes out and shouting, “smelly, smelly” repeatedly because I absolutely couldn’t bear the smell and because in response, she purposely made me stand there enduring it even longer.

 

Incidentally, I actually really love them now!

 

The wing of the marmosets/other small primates in the America's Pavillion at the Toronto Zoo has ah, very distinct smell. Like urine.
Cat urine.
Skunk spray. My Rat Terrier mix was sprayed twice

Most animal smells though don't really bother me, to be honest. I work as a dog groomer's assistant and so I don't even pick up on the smell of wet dogs (aside from Poodles and it's not entirely unlike the smell of wet wool; they do stink when they are dirty though). Human related smells on other other hand, can make me gag, including and especially cigarette/cigar smoke.

Also can't stand the smell of infection

 

Ahh yes that majestic aroma. It's smells so bad that my sister refuses to go in there.

 

Ahahaha my dad can't stand the smell either. It's probably from them marking their territory but surely by now they know it's their domain

 

The fruit bats at Hamburg smelled notably bad when @CGSwans and I visited, although rotten fruit always has a perversely pleasant quality to it.

 

What's special about cat urine, Meaghan? Does it smell different from other kinds?

 

With cats, it’s the mix with their scent gland secretions that makes it smell so strong I think. The smell from the indoor enclosures for the lions and the tigers at Berlin Tierpark was pretty pungent to say the least!

 

Ooh ok. So does it smell just like other urine but stronger, or actually different? How would you describe the smell?

 

Personally, I would describe it as piercing. It’s sharp, harsh, impossible to hide from. Not gonna lie, I don’t go around making a habit of sniffing pee, but in comparison to say for example cleaning out sun bear night dens where they’ve been peeing all night, where I’m stood right in there and where there is absolutely no lingering smell, to just even walking past a highly scented peed all over cat enclosure, for me there is an enormous difference.

 

Ooh ok. That's really fascinating! Has it ever made you gag or anything even, or never that bad? Does cat pee definately take the cake for worse smell for you then, or is anything else worse?

 

Not quite made me gag, but made me walk past very quickly without breathing in.

As I said in a previous post, the worst animal related thing I have ever smelled was seven binturongs all at once.

 

Fresh marmoset poop is the absolute worst. Horrible smell and texture.

 

Oh right, I missed that! I wouldn't have guessed that one. What do they smell like? They're not the ones that smell like buttered popcorn, are they?