American Stuffers

Did you know that you can taxidermy your pet? And that there is a reality TV show about a shop that does it? I didn't either until today! It was oddly mesmerizing; I watched two episodes back to back. One of the story lines they followed was of Titi, a tiny little dog. Her owners let her outside to play and a hawk got her when it thought she was a squirrel. The parents wanted Titi stuffed because their little four year old didn't understand death yet. Other owners just can't bear to part with the animal that has meant so much to them for so long, whether it be a dog, cat, alligator, bird, or iguana.

While I'd never heard of pet taxidermy, I have heard of it as part of interior decoration. Or that's what someone told me when I asked them why they had a goose and a deer head mounted in their living room. And I guess growing up I had first hand experience with this concept - we had Pierre in our home. He was a standing Canadian goose that I think my dad shot when he was living in Texas. I guess he was proud of it? Wanted to keep it to show to us kids later on? I just remember that our dog didn't like it much and would occasionally try to move it when he thought we weren't looking. I can't even imagine what he would have done if instead of a stuffed goose we'd had a previous pet!