Taxidermy: An Outsider's Perspective

When I hired into a tannery at the start of the year, I didn't know what to expect.  Dead animals, preservation, stuffing? I had no idea. And yet within short order the previously strange and misunderstood subject had begun to make sense. I discovered two things I didn't expect.

If Taxidermy is art, then tanning is the canvas.

Taxidermists aren't just people that play with dead animals. They are artists, sculptors and poets. They are curators in the museum of the natural world, giving all of us something that a picture could never capture. Which brings me to my next discovery.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, than a beautiful mount is worth a million.

Underlying all of this of course is the tan. Without tanning the skin will decompose. The chemical processes to stop the deterioration are necessary if an exhibit is to last more than a few weeks. The science behind all of this of course is complex, but its roots go back to time immemorial. Shortly after God gave man dominion over the animals, man had to figure out a way to stay warm.  Somewhere beyond Eden, man began working with animal hides.


Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Genesis 1:26

Thousands of years later, even with all of our science and technology, computer animation still can't outperform the teamwork of the tannery and the taxidermist. The three dimensional artwork that you make has never been duplicated, nor will it ever be.

- Chris Feldt
   H&H Fur Dressing, Inc
   www.furdressing.com