But Miss Lach (25), who lives in Oamaru and teaches science and biology at Craighead Diocesan School, Timaru, has been interested in taxidermy since childhood in Chicago.
She recalled visiting the natural history museum in the city, which was "full of stuffed animals", and thinking they were beautiful.
While at secondary school, she decided to try taxidermy and then, once at university, she and a friend successfully petitioned to get a taxidermy class running again.
Ironically, Miss Lach was keen to study veterinary science but could not go through with it because she was terrified of blood and passed out at the sight.
"When I'm doing taxidermy, I can blank out for some reason. It's different, somehow," she said.
She was keen to get some more training but was finding that difficult in New Zealand.
She also would love to see taxidermy clubs established in schools, possibly leading on to courses.
Miss Lach was very focused on education and while a lot of school pupils were "quite grossed out" at first, it was a practical learning experience.
It was a good way to see animals "up close and personal" and learn about them, from fur to structure.
The more hands-on it was, the more real it was, she said.
"I want to get the naturalist back into the idea of science - getting down and dirty with whatever you're studying."
While a lot of women taxidermists tended to be very art-driven, she was very focused on education.
Some art pieces she found were demeaning to the animal and took the "real beauty" of the animal away.
The animals being treated needed to be researched carefully, in order to put them in proper context.
"You've got to have a really good eye for detail. You have to pay attention ... and you have to be very, very careful.
"A lot of people get frustrated with it and that's why you get a lot of really bad taxidermy," she said.
Miss Lach has taxidermied everything from ducks and ravens to tiny birds, hedgehogs, groundhogs and coyotes.
Her dog has its own sheepskin which she tanned.
She made a possum hat, with a tail over each ear, for a friend overseas.
"She loved it but I don't think she wears it much."
She would love to eventually have a shop, but specialising in education rather than a commercial "deer head on the wall" type of thing.
