Every time someone offers me a gift of "road kill" or something they shot, I make sure to let them know how much I appreciated the offer, but, I just do not want to take the chance of ruining all my other fur/feathers with a raw material. I prefer to purchase fur/feathers from a fly shop and hope it is safe. I have found fur pieces at antique shops that were part of a fur coat collar or coat and will use it at times. I just feel better using material that has been processed and I know one can use raw material but I just do not feel I want to go through the long drawn out process of making it "safe" to use. Since I usually just tie for my use, I do not need a large inventory of fur/feathers and the higher cost of "safe" material is fine with me.