English essay

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English 1A

8 September 2012

Trophy Room Taxidermy

Taxidermy predates modern society. Viewed by early man as a way to display victory

and show respect to that which feeds them, arose the method of drying and tanning animal skins

when treated with certain substances. Most often viewed as a strange profession by the general

population (including myself), I was surprised to discover the large number of Taxidermists in

most towns and/or cities.

Passing through an already unusual town filled with an uncomfortable amount of hostile-

looking individuals, I found myself stumbling upon normality. Just a few hundred feet from old

broken down houses and daytime food joints, seemingly devoid of a single customer, stood a tall

multiplex containing a variety of bizarre offices and companies. Now understanding that I’ve

given myself a chore to locate the Taxidermist amongst the multitude of businesses, I approach

the multiplex surrounded by the variety of tall, flower blooming trees and freshly cut green grass

for miles.

Expecting to see a stereotypical hunting lodge made of large and evenly cut logs that

displayed a realistic mounted deer head at the front entrance, I was taken aback by the fact that I

couldn’t even find the place! After a few frustrating minutes making every dead animal pun I

could in relation to how empty the parking lot was, I finally found the unassuming door that

read, “Trophy Room Taxidermy.” As excited as one could be opening a door to a Taxidermy

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room, I proceeded in my attempt to do so only to find that it was locked. Confused, I looked

around in a calm distress to find a reason that the door wouldn’t open after speaking to the

personable owner on the phone and arranging a set time for me to arrive. Understanding that the

answer could not be found next door in the closed candy store with the bright and flashing open

sign activated, I began my disappointed departure as the door to the Taxidermist opened swiftly

to a large extended hand accompanied by a loud and abrupt, “hello son” from Stanley, the

owner.

Immediately upon entering the office, I was hit with a familiar mixture of the smell of a

dentist’s office and the smell of my attic filled with everything my mother thinks she needs from

my childhood. After stepping over the thin zebra skin carpet, Stanley walked me through a

doorway leading to an expansive room filled with an extraordinarily wide variety of skulls,

animal skins, finished animals, hanging antlers and a large case filled with hand blown and hand

painted glass eyeballs suited for nearly every animal I could think of. Stanley turned to me,

chuckled, and said, “Well? It’s not what you thought is it?” Never having seen to a Taxidermist,

I suppose Stanley fulfilled my expectations. He was tall and tan with a shaved head and looked

all too normal to be involved in such a peculiar profession, but I admire his interest and passion

for something so fascinating to him.

Trophy Room Taxidermy is sent all types of animals, large or small. Small animals can

be sent to his workplace directly where he proceeds to skin them, whereas large animals must be

skinned upon arrival. He continues by drying them and then sends the dried skin to a tannery

where the protein structure of the skin is chemically altered into leather. The customer is given a

catalog containing the positions in which the finished animal can be poised and places the order

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based on their preference. Once the order is placed, a polyurethane (Styrofoam) model is sent to

Stanley’s workplace where he can alter the position and dimensions based on the size of the skin.

Stanley is very professional about his work and is sure that each project he is given to

work on receives his full attention and is finished at full capacity. He showed an incredible

amount of enthusiasm when explaining to me where everything came from in the shop, how he

kept his skins, and showing off some of his greatest and largest projects. It was astounding to me

the length he would go in order to complete these detailed depictions. He allowed me to join him

in his office where I stood face to face with a seven and a half foot bear on all fours with a wet

looking snout, 3 and a half inch dark black claws, and a light brown fur that smelled like my dog

and everything he has ever rolled in. Stanley pulled out a binder that I assumed would be full of

clientele and business related material, but to my surprise he flipped through the pages, slid the

binder to me and proudly walked over to admire the photograph with me. The picture was taken

of Stanley next to an enormous giraffe that looked all too real for me to believe him when he

said, “That was my biggest project.”

Before I left I felt an overwhelming desire to ask him if I could see his newest project and

he invited me to follow him back to the room filled with his materials for future projects. We

walked over to a white styrofoam imitation of a hyena without the skin. He handed me the tough

skin of the hyena and asked if I wanted to lay it over the styrofoam and help him take the

measurements before he proceeded with the rest of the project. It was difficult for me to even

attempt to neatly place the skin around the model by myself. Stanley did it almost effortlessly.

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Overwhelmed with gratitude to be a part of something so special and personal to him, I felt I had

no way to properly thank him.