An ex-butcher in Plymouth who started a taxidermy business "by accident" is now making car ornaments out of dead rats, mice, chicks and rabbits.

Self-taught taxidermist Jack Devaney's latest offerings are called 'Hairy Danglers' – fur-covered car baubles attached to an elastic loop drivers can dangle from their rearview mirror.

The ornaments are the latest addition to his catalogue of strange animal creations including a rabbit toaster, a rat pencil case and mice earrings.

All animals used in his Hairy Danglers collection are sourced from pet shop freezers.

Jack says his creations are a hit with the public, and while some people might find his creations macabre, the 28-year-old isn't phased by the gruesome nature of his products as he used to be a butcher, Plymouth Herald reports.

Originally from Manchester, Jack attended Plymouth University to do 3D design where his career in preserving dead animals began – his first taxidermy creation was due to a misunderstanding.

Jack said: "It was called a feasibility project and we had to come up with an idea of a product that would be feasible that people would want. We were advised that we should incorporate something from our past into it.

“It seems that the teacher meant something from our past modules on the course but I took it to mean our personal past, so I wanted to show that I used to be a butcher. I made a taxidermy rat, I showed it to the class and then it went viral online."

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Jack then went onto make a rat pencil case. He said: "From that which was about four or five years ago it evolved into a business, I’ve just been making stuff ever since.”

Jack’s previous experience of being a butcher comes in handy, he is not deterred by blood and guts – he says he finds the organs "‘interesting". “I call it bad taxidermy because I never make anything that looks like the original animal,” he said.

"From age 14 to 20 I worked in a butchers shop so I would say that I’m desensitised to it, I waste as little as possible, as for the organs you never really get to see them do you? Say you’re driving down the road and you see a [dead] fox on the road, the organs have turned to mush, you never get to see the hearts or the eyeballs.”

Growing up, Jack had his sights set on saving animals rather than stuffing them, but now looking back he feels life is less stressful rather than if he had pursued the career he wanted initially. “As a kid I never woke up and said 'I want to be a taxidermist,' as I said before, it was an accident.

“I’ll be dead honest with you, growing up I actually wanted to be a vet. This is kind of like being a vet but without any of the stress, I guess.”

To view more of Jack's creations, you can do so on his website, here.

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