Detective, His Story Checks Out

The Daily News further researches animal hides in drumming, making the case that the percussionist who contracted anthrax probably did get it from goat skin, as the experts first were saying:

Local West African drum makers say making drums with animal hides is a tradition that dates back hundreds of years.

People involved in the trade prefer to use goat skin from their home countries, ideally from a female animal. The skin is sun-dried, shaved and sometimes bleached for esthetic purposes.

“You can buy the goat skin in New York, but the goat in New York is too fatty, too thick,” said Ibrahima Diokhane, who owns Keur Djembe, a popular drum store in Gowanus, Brooklyn. “But the goat in Senegal is thinner, and the butcher there cuts it right.”

Diokhane, a native of Dakar, Senegal, either brings his hides in a suitcase or ships them in a container.

The World Health Organization notes that industrial anthrax tends to afflict those employed in the processing of bones, hides, wool and other animal products.