This chapter examines the intertwined dynamics of violence and care in nineteenth-century natural history through the lens of taxidermy and zoological collecting practices. Focusing on instruction manuals and travel reports, the author explores how the act of killing animals—essential for the production of scientific specimens—was framed within a complex moral and epistemic discourse. Manuals emphasized both technical precision and affective dispositions such as patience, empathy, and dedication, revealing a tension between scientific ambition and emotional unease. Meanwhile, field narratives from imperial expeditions expose a contrasting reality of mass collection, environmental domination, and racialized labour. The chapter argues for a micro-historical reading of these practices to understand natural knowledge production as rooted in both the material manipulation of animal bodies and the colonial systems that facilitated such endeavours. By foregrounding the embodied and often violent labour involved, the chapter challenges sanitized narratives of scientific progress and calls for integrating the history of knowledge with the history of violence.