Taxidermy.Net Forum - Can you help my dream come true?

In 2009 I visited Canada for the first time and was taken to the BassPro store in Calgary. It was one of the most awesome experiences ever.

I'm from Jamaica, and although I have seen live animals in zoos at Seaworld and at the Bronx Zoo, seeing the preserved mounts was incomparable to anything. Since then I've become a bit fixated on a dream. That of creating an opportunity for Jamaican children who may never get to travel beyond their shores to see awesome animals that they would never see live in Jamaica. We have a struggling zoo and efforts are being made to revive it. But even the greatest Jamaican zoo system, could not afford to facilitate and maintain some of the powerful, beautiful live animals in the way that a splendid display of mounts would.

I traveled to the Ocala taxidermy convention in 2010 and met some wonderful people. I bought a fox mount and a raccoon skin and a fox skin. That was my little way of investing in a dream to create a wild animal kingdom in Jamaica with displays of all types of taxidermied animals. I also visited the Orlando BassPro store and saw a tiger from the early 20th century. AWESOME!

I am not a hunter, just a mom who felt grateful for the opportunity to see what I saw in the BassPro store and I want to one day own and operate a facility that would be beautifully decorated. I would want to create several ultimately in different parts of the island.

For those who have read this far, thank you. I think my request is, would you help me by giving me your mounts and skins that you may not want now. I think a good way to achieve my objective is to start collecting. Then one day, hopefully some of you could voluntarily come down to JA and mount and help create this environment with me.

I do not have the type of capital required to make this happen. But perhaps a value could be placed on your donations and you would be acknowledged for helping to make this happen. Or perhaps one day I might be able to pay you back. I envision that I will charge for entry to the venue so that resources can be available to maintain the place. I've also been told that air-conditioning is going to be very important as such, that will make it quite a costly venture, that is, to keep the AC on all the time. But those details will be worked on. Right now, I would like to find ways of accumulating skins and mounts.

Thank you so much for caring enough to read this long message. I look forward to your opinions, feedback and advice.

Sincerely
Bello from Jamaica

P.S. I would be willing to pay for shipping to a US address in Florida. From there I would personally collect the items. Thank you.