Always at the end of the year I reflect on the months past. This year was especially memorable. I was going through all of the invoices for 2003 and I came across several that made me laugh. Our shop had many strange things and occurences come through the shop doors. While reflecting I was wondering what strange requests some of you get. Here are just a few from my year...
I had a lady call with a pet cockteal that had died that morning. I told her we would do it and to brink it in. An hour later she arrived with a small box and a sad faced child in tow. I carefully took the box from her and opened the lid. I found a wet cockteal curled up on top of a black and purple striped thong underwear. I did not want an explanation for the panties! I picked the bird up and examined it. The bird was very wet and I asked her if she had tried to bathe the bird or something. She franitcally gestured and said "That is just the thing! My husband NEVER leaves the toilet seat up!"
A lady called and asked if we could preserve her horsetail. I told her to come on in and we would take a look at it. She came in that afternoon and to my surprise, it was not a horsetail, but her ponytail. She had decided to cut her hair short and when they lopped off her hair she saved it. Her husband was so upset that he had her save the hair. She brought it to us to see if we could make it into one of those brushes to apply shaving cream. We will have it done by Christmas.
Anyhow, those were the two strangest things that were brought into the shop this year. I would love to know what you guys got in this year, or years past that really made you laugh or was so strange that you thought twice about taking it in.
P.S. I am still debating about mounting the cockteal on a toilet seat...
Return to The Taxidermy Industry Category Menu
a guy called and said that he'd shot some strange cat when he was deer hunting. He brought it in, wanting it mounted. I asked him if there were any houses close to his lease and he assured me there wasn't any. I couldn't believe it. It must have been some new species of naturally neutered, declawed "wild"cat.
Evidently, it was someones lost, or unwanted and dumped, pet. Some people should not be turned loose with a gun. Why would you shoot something if you are not sure what it is? What happened to "always be sure of your target"?
BP
I replied I don't mount married women (this was when I was single of course). Her eyes got as big as golf balls. It was priceless.
a fellow taxidermist in Indiana, Rocky Smith, got a german shepard in someone shot. The weird thing is the guy argued it was a coyote. Rocky couldn't convince the guy otherwise.
We had a women call last week that asked if we mounted pet rabbits. I told her not usually and asked some details and quoted her a very high price- which I was sure she would not accept. It turns out the rabbit had died 2 weeks earlier. The price did not scare her off but when she told me they would have to go and dig it up- I told her that there was no way her rabbit could be mounted after 2 weeks in the ground. She thought it would be mummified! Some people.
Yup the kind that gets made into bacon,They wanted it to look mean so I mounted it on a Javalina form.It was a pink pig with big tusks.They also wanted the rear end mounted so they could but it on the otherside of the wall from the head. That was 10 years ago and I still have the photos!
I had a guy walk in to my shop last week, carrying a frozen bobcat, and the Oregon State police(game warden) was here. The officer asked him where he got the bobcat, and he told him while he was elk hunting.The officer asked him to see his elk tag, he said he didn't have one, he was hunting with some friends.
The officer then informed him ,that bobcat season wasn't open until 12/1 and you need a fur takers license to hunt them. So he got nailed for illeagle possesion of a bobcat,hunting without the proper license and tags and was warned about hunting elk without a tag. OOPS ! Tim
Last year a woman called me an ask me to do a lamp out of an artificial human leg. It turned out it was her husbands who died a few months before and she wanted something to remember him by. now that's weird.
-Brandon
May I ask what you put under the shade for her to PULL to get the light to turn on? Sorry, I couldnt help myself!
I got a call and still to this day don't know who it was. He asked me how much to do a shoulder mount on a Judge. I laughed and he hung up? I wonder if he called from prison?
of the laughs. I even had a few emails of stories that were total crack ups! I have heard several stories about pets being buried for days and the person decided to try to have it preserved. One lady a couple of years ago called and told my boss that she wanted her cocker spaniel done. He refused and she continued to call him, bawling and begging to have him take in Rover. Atlast, she confided that she buried him some days ago and wanted to dig up his head so she could cut the ears off and bring them to us! She said the ears were very silky and wanted them to be saved! Another incident included a woman and a rooster. She brought it in and Rick said he would mount it. When she left he opened up the box and a LIVE rooster jumped out and ran around the shop. He spent an hour trying to catch it! My favorite story from our shop is about a woman who broke up with her boyfriend. She stole his striper off his wall, stabbed it with a knife about a hundred times and ripped the tail off. She then took the tail to the new girlfriend's house and threw it on her porch. A few days later she started feeling guilty and brought the striper in to be repaired. A day later the new girlfriend brought in the tail to be reattached. She said that not only does she have the man but gets to keep the fish to boot! People like that sure make my job interesting!
Thanks for all of the stories!
Tonight a very nice lady phoned me and asked me if I could...ready? Mount her pet leech. Honest!
A man and wife came over with 3 dead squirrel monkeys. She wanted them done ,hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil, sitting on a log. Yes I did them and have a photo somewhere.