it was once the preserve of game hunters
and museum curators but some grieving
pet owners are now seeking out the
services of taxidermist Garry Robbins
when they bring a pet in to us they’re
very emotional they lost a loved one of
the family and we have to take that pet
and assure them then it’s gonna be
handled properly today that family pet
is a freshly deceased rabbit the owner
is Carlos Perico my daughter Robin even
passed away you told me to put it in the
frigerator and I did do you have a name
for him his name was thumper okay
my daughter’s five and doesn’t know yet
so I want to get it done is there any
kind of position you want him in uh he
slept a lot so I like him sleeping okay
he’ll be fine the challenge for the
taxidermist is to put the appearance of
life into a lifeless body we offer him a
service we explain to him what’s gonna
be done we can’t put the actual
personality or the life back into the
animal but we can give you the replica
of what you remember he wears gloves for
his own protection even a dead animal
can harm him potentially passing on
diseases like anthrax Lyme’s disease
avian flu even rabies he uses
traditional taxidermy methods to begin
the operation
he skins the rabbit and removes the hide
in one piece
this is our rabbit with the inside out
the skin here and we’ll just turn him
right side out again
– his nose eyes ears
basically there’s what the skin of the
rabbit looks like at this point gary
scrapes all traces of flesh and tissue
from the hide anything left would stink
and rot in the finished product
he covers the skin in salt what the salt
does is take all the moisture out takes
all the fat the oils we want to dry this
out thoroughly as possible
the hide must dry for five days before
being sent to a tannery gary uses
thumpers carcass to form a body mold
first marking out the shape
then carving the shape in hardened foam
pet taxidermy is a lengthy and expensive
process a rabbit like thumper costs
around nine hundred dollars a large dog
up to $2,500 and pet owners have high
expectations
a lot of taxidermist won’t do pets
because people are hard to please you
know they want to bring back the realism
they want to remember that pet is as it
was in true life and sometimes that
expression is really hard to put back
into the animal
and museum curators but some grieving
pet owners are now seeking out the
services of taxidermist Garry Robbins
when they bring a pet in to us they’re
very emotional they lost a loved one of
the family and we have to take that pet
and assure them then it’s gonna be
handled properly today that family pet
is a freshly deceased rabbit the owner
is Carlos Perico my daughter Robin even
passed away you told me to put it in the
frigerator and I did do you have a name
for him his name was thumper okay
my daughter’s five and doesn’t know yet
so I want to get it done is there any
kind of position you want him in uh he
slept a lot so I like him sleeping okay
he’ll be fine the challenge for the
taxidermist is to put the appearance of
life into a lifeless body we offer him a
service we explain to him what’s gonna
be done we can’t put the actual
personality or the life back into the
animal but we can give you the replica
of what you remember he wears gloves for
his own protection even a dead animal
can harm him potentially passing on
diseases like anthrax Lyme’s disease
avian flu even rabies he uses
traditional taxidermy methods to begin
the operation
he skins the rabbit and removes the hide
in one piece
this is our rabbit with the inside out
the skin here and we’ll just turn him
right side out again
– his nose eyes ears
basically there’s what the skin of the
rabbit looks like at this point gary
scrapes all traces of flesh and tissue
from the hide anything left would stink
and rot in the finished product
he covers the skin in salt what the salt
does is take all the moisture out takes
all the fat the oils we want to dry this
out thoroughly as possible
the hide must dry for five days before
being sent to a tannery gary uses
thumpers carcass to form a body mold
first marking out the shape
then carving the shape in hardened foam
pet taxidermy is a lengthy and expensive
process a rabbit like thumper costs
around nine hundred dollars a large dog
up to $2,500 and pet owners have high
expectations
a lot of taxidermist won’t do pets
because people are hard to please you
know they want to bring back the realism
they want to remember that pet is as it
was in true life and sometimes that
expression is really hard to put back
into the animal
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