Taxidermy

[Shade]

I never really gave this topic much thought until this morning. I Googled "zombie fox plush" from the Newbie survey thinking I'd find some cool zombie fox toys but instead I found an anti-taxidermy site and it immediately sparked my interest. I read through the pages, and followed some links to photos of pelts and stuffed animals on DeviantArt. I was relatively surprised at how well the posters defended themselves, and I'm actually now quite interested in it. One person described taxidermy as preserving the beauty of an animal she'd never see up close and living, and some poking around showed that a lot of taxidermists (or people that collect these stuffed animals) feel the same way. I never knew that.

I tried getting more opinions on the subject (especially where people for and against debated over it), but Google didn't really help and random anonymous chat rooms only provided one opinion out of possibly fifty sessions (the rest were spam or an instant disconnect), and the person was just someone who supported animal rights, but was fine with taxidermy as long as the animal pelt was obtained ethically (such as through roadkill or natural causes, not being raised simply for their pelts) and they didn't have to look at it.

I don't know how strong of opinions I'll get here, but I'm hoping for at least a few.

This is the site I stumbled on. The DeviantArt Links are on the Common Excuses page. http://www.chaospirits.com/furzombies/index.html

Here's some questions I've come up with if you need them to get an idea for what to say. And if you have more questions to add, ask them!

Do you like taxidermy? Or are you against it? Or do you just not have an opinion.
If you like it, why do you like it? If you don't, why?
Do you believe it's wrong for people to have "fur zombies" as put by the site above?
Do you support animal rights? And do you believe taxidermy is okay as long as the pelts are obtained ethically, humanely, and legally?
What do you think about appreciating the beauty of animals even after death through taxidermy?

Also feel free to post more links to sites that are either for or against taxidermy, or links to other discussions.

 

[Diana]

Do you like taxidermy? Or are you against it? Or do you just not have an opinion. If you like it, why do you like it? If you don't, why? Do you believe it's wrong for people to have "fur zombies" as put by the site above? Do you support animal rights? And do you believe taxidermy is okay as long as the pelts are obtained ethically, humanely, and legally? What do you think about appreciating the beauty of animals even after death through taxidermy?

I don't have a problem with it at all. I don't -want- a stuffed animal. D: But, I can easily see the great reasons for having them. Like preserving model of species for zoos/museums.

I'm NOT keen on the people who hunt animals just for the fun of hunting them and having them as trophies. >< If they're using the meat/etc as necessity for food, no problem. But trophies are lame. D:

I dun like the sale of animal furs for toys or fashion. :[ Most of the time, the animals are bred just for the fur. That's sad and such a disregard for life!

 

[Kitti]

Largely, I agree with Diana. I can see the merits to taxidermy for preserving animals for museums and exhibits.
Killing animals for meat I am fine with, though I think mostly those people don't "stuff" the animals? I don't know...
Killing them just to stuff them though does seem kind of cruel.

Using animals for fur made sense... before we could create warm clothing from other materials.
Using animals less as a source of warm clothing from the elements and more for fashion, I don't agree with, no.