The living dead
IBOUGHT my first stuffed animal at the age of 13. It was a massive boar’s head, tusks and all, from a second-hand shop on Cuba St and it set me back $300. That was a lot of money back then and constituted all my milk round savings.
Since then I have collected taxidermy and now have about 30 animals adorning the walls and shelves of a specially dedicated room at home.
My girlfriend, Rachel, wasn’t so keen initially, especially given she’s a vegetarian. Our first date was pretty interesting! She’s OK with the birds but less keen on the heads.
I have a huge bull head – interestingly, from Bulls. It’s not hanging up yet because it’s so massive that I’ll need to reinforce the wall first.
I remember trying to ram it into a rather small car to bring it home from Bulls. There was one horn poking the driver, the other nudging the passenger and there I was crammed in the back seat all the way back to Wellington. We must have looked a ridiculous sight.
My collection is pretty varied. I have a crocodile with pearl eyes that I got in a second-hand shop in Palmerston North. His mouth is open and he has all his teeth!
I have a raccoon that my 31⁄ year-old daughter Milly likes. She’s also pretty keen on the wallaby.
I see the beauty in these dead animals when they are given new life again, so long as they are stuffed and prepared properly.
None of my taxidermy smells. I did once have a pair of deer hoofs that were made into a gun rack that used to weep in the winter time. They had to go.
I’ve never killed anything to have stuffed and, as far as I know, all my stuffed animals died naturally-ish.
Most of the earlier taxidermy involved horse hair straw stuffing. These days skins are stretched over a specially made mould. I do have two wee mice stuffed with tampons. They arrived stuck to plastic fruit but that didn’t look right so I made an outdoor cottage garden scene for them.
Taxidermy used to be all the rage in the 1950s and 1960s. Then there was a bit of a PC era but I think it’s coming back into fashion. I see my collection as a bit of a retirement fund. Hopefully it’ll be worth a lot more by the time I stop work.
People’s reactions to them are mixed. I’d say 50 per cent are creeped out and 50 per cent think it’s cool.
We do have a couple of live animals – chickens. They are fantastic. When it’s their time, I think they’ll get stuffed. They’re such characters.