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Teaching, Training & Taxidermy

Howard Whitten is the president of the Maine Association of Taxidermists. While attending Piedmont Mini Course I had the opportunity to visit with Howard and several of his students. Prior to the Mini Course I had visited with Howard by phone several times and told him I thought our members would be interested to hear about the good things he was doing in Nokomis Regional High School in Newport, where he is a science instructor and taxidermist. At Nokomis, thanks to Howard Whitten, the students learn the basics of taxidermy. Simply stated, teaching our youth about taxidermy in its broadest sense means learning about everything that affects our profession and existence that is not inherited from our immediate family. Howard has helped create a taxidermy family with his students and is to be congratulated! --Editor

I recently had the pleasure of being elected as the newest president of the Maine Association of Taxidermists. I have had the honor of holding several important positions in my life, such as: Maine State director of a national trike organization, an officer of a state motorcycle rights group, a Notary Public, a Dedimus Justice-just to name a few. However, my most important post to date is that of a "teacher." Everything I do seems to revolve around my students and their education. This creates a double-edged sword at times, but I hope it helps all involved.

As this magazine has pointed out on many occasions, the kids are our future! With this in mind, I recently took five current and one past student to the 26th Annual Piedmont Community College Mini Course. This trip took over 3000 miles total! This type of school trip is rare in most cases. Different students and I have traveled to this event three times since I graduated from there a few years ago. I teach the only certified Museum Science/Taxidermy curriculum in a high school in the country. It started out as a few students staying after school learning taxidermy. Before we knew it, we had a taxidermy club with over 30 members-a teacher and a student on the Board of Directors on the Maine Association of TaxidermistsÉand had a course approved by our school board that teaches all aspects of taxidermy.

Our school has a fully equipped (but messy) taxidermy classroom. We have a tanning machine, a fleshing machine, airbrushes, compressors, and we even have a freeze-dry machine! The specimens that we use are mainly road kills, or confiscated from Fish & Game. Nothing goes to waste. The Honors Science classes to teach natural history to other schools, nursing homes, civic groups, etc., then use the mounts or miscellaneous products. My students have also restored exhibits at local museums and prepared habitat models for Fish & Game. We always seem to be in demand.

Teaching taxidermy is a bit different from other courses, sometimes it takes years to see if the students "go it" or not. But with taxidermy, you can see results in a short period of time. I think that is why we are so successful; with the students they see immediate progress. I believe that may be why our state organization has been so successful at recruiting new student members as well, the organization grows and the students learn from the best in the state of Maine.

The students who went on the trip had experiences that money can't buy. They were able to get a behind the scenes look at the Richard Petty Museum-two students will be attending diesel mechanics school next year. They attended taxidermy seminars and were able to talk to other taxidermists from the region. They were even able to put their taxidermy skills to use by skinning and tanning a road kill wild turkey. The Maine Association of Taxidermists graciously paid the students registration fees-an investment in the future. Collecting cans, selling Avon, and soliciting sponsorships, raised the rest of the money.

When I met with Maine's Wildlife Commissioner, Mr. Lee Perry, last week, I had an interesting time trying to discuss state taxidermy business without bringing up students. I finally gave up and we talked about the need for more schools to teach taxidermy as part of their science program. Students learn a great deal about wildlife, anatomy, ecology, art, business, public speaking, and a "whole pile of other stuff."