Legality Of Owning Domestic Cat Furs & Skulls

Hi all, I do not know much about taxidermy but I hope this is the correct place to post (if not I can move/remove it)! I have searched google for a definitive answer but cannot find one so I hope that this will give me something more clear.
I have a few questions which I've bolded so hopefully I will be able to get a more clear answer.
*NOTE: this thread involves questions about the taxidermy of housepets so please be warned.

I am currently researching an incident involving a woman owning domestic (like a housecat that you would buy at a pet store) cat skulls & furs, and also using domestic cats for taxidermy. I am seeking those who know the laws or are professionals in the area of taxidermy that can help me get some answers.
I have seen laws on domestic fur trade & such, but my main question here is it even legal to own a domestic cat skin/hide or skull?? The woman says these are her own cats also if that makes any difference, and to my knowledge she has not been finding them as roadkills. She has been alleging that they died naturally & therefore she is taking their skins for taxidermy.
The woman has also been seen skinning the animals to show them off (as in she has taken the fur off, and left the body of the animal without its skin, and the body of the animal is what she choses to show off not the fur). Is this legal???
And lastly the part I am most unsure of is the fact that the cats she is doing this to are kittens. Is it legal for this woman to taxidermy kittens? I have seen people preserve still born kittens in jars n such, but I have never heard of anyone having a dead kitten to taxidermy.

 

We suspect she is harming the animals to kill them(she has been posting graphic images of them & teasing people). To our knowledge she is not teaching or studying, she has been buying kittens and later she posts now dead kittens skinned bodies. She also has been making teasing remarks about harming the cats so... I highly doubt this is for a study sadly.

I'm currently just trying to see if its possible for her to get in trouble for having domestic cat skins & such as I suspect she is in possession of illegal bird feathers & she has already tried to claim that they had natural deaths (which me and many others suspect is a lie).

Thank you for the information though, I will hopefully get in contact or have someone get in contact about the laws with the DNR or States Attorney then.

 

Hi there, I should have explained the situation more. I myself have nothing against taxidermy, and we have evidence of the woman going and harming animals for the purpose of skinning them. This isn't about if taxidermying a housepet is wrong, its about a woman who is harming and killing cats for fun so she can taxidermy them. I would link the google doc of our information here but I dont know about the rules this forum has against animal cruelty or animal harm.
I came to here to investigate if there were laws against the woman owning the cat furs & skulls, which it seems there are not unless she is selling them or purposely killing these housecats for their fur (which is what we are trying to research & put an end to. Not taxidermists legally taking their own or others naturally deceased pets for taxidermy).

We are not hunting this woman because we don't like taxidermy, I want to make that clear. We are trying to put an end to this because there is substantial evidence that she is killing and harming kittens purposely for to take their skins. She has also threatened to kill a person, which is terrifying. I came to the forum to ask about the laws on her owning and trying to sell the skins of these creatures n such.

But no, taxidermy of animals like housepets does not offend me or any others in this group I know of if the animals are treated properly. But this is an animal abuse incident, where there is evidence of this woman harming the cats purposely to skin them. We aren't a hate group trying to go bash innocent people, this woman has evidence stacking up to her harming these kittens & being a danger to them.
If someone has a kitten that has already passed, I do not care what they do with them. I only care if they are harming the cat to kill them.

If I am able to post the doc I will gladly link it here. I hope this helped, we really do not mean harm to those who legally are taxidermying pets. I am investigating the laws on if owning cats furs & skulls are legal in case she tries to slip in between the cracks & get away with this abuse.
Hope that clears it up but thank you for your concern & I can see where you're coming from.

 

Yes this is her. We have closed the reddit group though because of the amount of false information flying around. I came here because I was curious on the laws regarding ownership of cat skulls/furs. It seems the point has started to shift from that, which i accept responsibility for but originally I came here looking for info on the laws about ownership of domestic cat taxidermy items. Hope this helps to clear it up thank you.

 

Alrighty, thank you! I saw the laws on fur trade and was slightly confused on that but thank you for clarifying.

 

Mm, this is a good point. It is pointing towards her physically abusing the animals, but indeed yes she may not be accused of doing any illegal actions if they were humanely euthanized. I'm not very against the humane euthanization thing, its mainly just her hurting the animals and abusing them.
It is very nice to know that people respect the animals when they taxidermy them, and that it was legal.

This is the truth sadly. I have seen those who will simply make a threat and then move on without trying to do an action to have her stop if she is harming the animals... our group is doing its best to get legal action against her for the abuse of the animals so she will stop getting this attention. It is very sad to see she is exploiting this fame in this way, but yes I can see where you are coming from. I'm doing my best to not interact with her and instead work on trying to find a way for her to stop pro-actively as well as get justice if she is indeed harming these animals.
Thank you for all of the advice though, its been very helpful.

 

I also just saw the edit you added to the bottom, and I don't think you have seen this document (the google doc).
If i need to remove this please let me know
WARNING: possible animal abuse
https://docs.google.com/document/d/...TBnPZT6O5Ep_OT9KpAsW_z5-Uv5NTf9VcDAC4kqrAO9Nc

She says directly in there "I KILL WHEN EVER I WANT AND WHO EVER I WANT SO YOU WATCH WHERE YOU WALK" & then there is a photo of her with a cat that looks very similar to another that was being strangled on camera by an account on tiktok that we highly believe belongs to them. We are not sure when she skins them & such but there is evidence to show her choking them or purposely hurting them, and then she will later post a dead cat.

I truly hope this is all somehow some huge misunderstanding and that she actually isn't abusing them but... the evidence seems to point to it.