Tag Archives | taxidermy

Freeze Dried Pets

By on March 4, 2012 in News 4

We all know one or two people who love their pets more than their family and friends. Now they can preserve their pets forever, reports Live Science:

Mike McCullough never intended to start freeze-drying beloved pets for grieving owners. But more than a decade ago, a friend of a friend asked the Fort Loudon, Penn., taxidermist to save his beloved dog from the grave or cremation by preserving the animal instead. McCullough agreed.

Then he talked to a Wall Street Journal reporter about the process. It made the front page. Requests from bereaved owners started rolling in. Today, McCullough’s taxidermy shop, Mac’s Taxidermy, is one of a handful of places around the country that will preserve not only hunting trophies, but also the hunting dog.

“It’s a whole different game for us,” McCullough told LiveScience. “You have to be a counselor, you know what I mean? It’s tough.”…

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Walter Potter’s Taxidermy Wants to Swallow Your Soul

By on December 30, 2011 in News 3

Walter Potter’s collection of anthropomorphic taxidermy included cigar-smoking squirrels, athletic toads, and a kittens’ tea party. Victorian Gothic writes:

While the preservation of hunting trophies may be the best-known use of the taxidermist’s art, fans of Walter Potter’s anthropomorphic tableaux can attest to the fact that it has its other, more silly uses. Potter (1835-1918) was a self-taught taxidermist who grew up in the rural community of Bramber, Sussex, at a time when stuffing dead animals was considered to be a suitable hobby for young boys. For technical assistance, he would have had any number of popular manuals at his disposal. For inspiration, he had his younger sister’s illustrated nursery rhyme books and the Great Exhibition of 1851, where anthropomorphic taxidermy was first displayed to the British public.

Potter'sRabbitSchool

His first major contribution was an elaborate diorama depicting the death and burial of Cock Robin, which he began at age 19 and took seven years to complete.

… Read the rest

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Man Jailed For Creating Mutant Taxidermy

By on December 23, 2011 in News 8

Guilty of imagining a vivid, strange world that doesn’t exist, and trying to bring it into creation. The Daily Mail writes:

Like a modern day Dr Frankenstein, Enrique Gomez De Molina creates hauntingly stunning hybrid sculptures made from the stuffed parts of dead animals. But it…could land the Miami artist in jail for up to five years and see him forking out $250,000 in fines.

He pleaded guilty to illegally importing parts from endangered species to make his beloved mythical creatures. He smuggled in the parts, skins and remains, from whole cobras, pangolins, hornbills, and the skulls of babirusa and orangutans from areas all over the world including Bali, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and China.

animals… Read the rest

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Beer With Highest Alcohol Percentage Sold In Road Kill Taxidermy

By on July 26, 2010 in News 7

It’s understandable that the strongest beer ever made would be sold-out within a few hours, but what’s with the road kill? Brewdog released The End of History as part of their experimental, highly-alcoholic, beers. With an alcohol content equivalent to liquor, the beer is eclectically unique with its own beer cozy. The Telegraph details:

The stunt has been condemned by animal rights groups as “cheap marketing tactics”.

Twelve bottles of The End Of History ale have been made and placed inside seven dead stoats, four squirrels and one hare.

And at 55 per cent volume, its makers claim it is the world’s strongest beer.

A taxidermist in Doncaster worked on the animals, which were not killed for bottling the new drink, with some having been killed on the roads.

Outfits featured on some of the animals include a kilt and a top hat.

BrewDog, of Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, created the ale, which is stronger than whisky and vodka.

… Read the rest

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‘Wolfgirl’ Investigated For Severing Dog Head

By on February 16, 2010 in News 7

In light of the just-opened Benicio Del Toro film The Wolf Man, it’s important to realize that we are living among real-life wolf people:

Wolfie Blackheart is not an ordinary 18-year-old. She believes she is a wolf — technically, a werewolf.

And last week, she used a pocketknife in her kitchen to decapitate a dog — already dead, according to Wolfie — that had been missing since Jan. 5. “I severed the head, boiled the head,” Wolfie said. “People make the mistake of hacking the spine, which will fracture the skull…You also have to put (the head) outside for the brains to leak out.”

Wolfie has Tourette’s syndrome, which causes her to yip — a result of head trauma suffered in a car crash about a decade ago, her mother said.

She’s also a member of a wolf pack: “I’m a wolf, and I have a group of other friends who are canines,” she said.

… Read the rest

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