  
TAXIDERMY AN ANCIENT ART OR A CRUEL PART OF OUR HISTORY ?
WHEN DID IT START.....THE EARLIEST FORM OF ANIMAL SKIN PRESERVATION WAS USED SEVERAL THOUSANDS YEARS AGO WHEN OUR HUNTER GATHERERING ANCESTERS FIRST USED SALTS AND MINERALS TO PRESERVE ANIMAL SKINS FOR CLOTHING OR SHELTER,THEN THE PROCESS WAS EVOLVED TO A HIGHER LEVEL WITH THE EGYPTIAN MUMMIFICATION PROCESS
WITH SKILLS LEARNED FROM THE TECHNIQUES OF TANNING,AND PRESERVATION OF SKINS,THE EGYPTIANS EXPANDED AND EVOLVED THE PROCESS WITH OILS,SCENTS,CHEMICAL SUNSTANCES ON THEIR HIGH RANKING SOCIETY AND ROYALTY,BUT IN BRITAIN ORGANISED PRESERVATION OF SKINS AND EARLY TAXIDERMY CAN BE TRACED BACK TO THE 1700s WHEN MOST PROSPEROUS MARKET TOWNS HAD A TANNERY BUSINESS,BY THE 18OOS THIS HAD INVOLVED INTO STUFFED CRUDE HUNTING TROPHIES,BUT DURING THE LATTER PART OF THE 1800s,TAXIDERMY WAS BEGINING TO BE TRANSFORMED INTO THE ART FORM IT IS TODAY,
THESE DAYS WITH MOST TAXIDERMISTS BEING KEPT BUSY WITH ROAD KILL WILDLIFE MOUNTS INSTEAD OF HUNTED AND SHOT SPECIMENS,WITH MODERN METHODS,CHEMICALS,TREATMENTS AND READY MADE FORMS BEING AVAILABLE THE LEVEL HAS REACHED THE POINT WHERE YOU EXPECT SOME SPECIMENS TO RUN OR FLY AWAY WHEN YOU APPROACH THEM.
EVERYBODY HAS AN OPINION ON THIS SUBJECT,MINE IS OF SORROW AT THE SHOOTING OF THESE WONDERFUL CREATURES IN LARGE NUMBERS IN VICTORIAN TIMES,BUT ONE HAS TO LOOK AT IT WITH AN OPEN MIND FROM ALL ANGLES,THIS WAS A PERIOD WHERE WILDFOWLING AND HUNTING WAS A PART OF EVERYDAY LIFE,AND A MAJOR FOOD SOURCE THEN OUR WILDLIFE WAS MUCH MORE COMMON THAN IT IS TODAY,AND CREATURE SUCH AS THE DODO,PASSENGER PIGEON AND GREAT AUK HAVE BECOME EXTINCT NOT THROUGH TAXIDERMY BUT DUE TO MANS PREDATATION FOR FOOD,AND IN MODERN TIMES ONE CAN ASK A QUESTION WHICH IN TOTAL IS THE BIGGEST KILLER OF BRITISH WILDLIFE IS IT HUNTING,TAXIDERMISTS,POLLUTION,THE DOMESTIC CAT OR THE MOTOR CAR,POSSIBLY THE LATTER,ONE ONLY HAS TO DRIVE ON BRITAINS ROAD TO SEE THOUSANDS PER YEAR KILLED BY THE CAR,AND THE DRIVERS ONLY SEE WHAT IS KILLED INSTANTLY ON THE ROAD,MANY MORE SUSTAIN INJURIES AND DIE IN THE UNDERGROWTH,OR ARE INSTANTLY SCAVENGED BY CORVIDS,BUZZARDS AND FOXES BEFORE NOTICED ON OUR ROADS,SO WHAT WE SEE DEAD ON OUR ROADS COULD ONLY BE A SMALL PERCENT OF WHAT IS EXACTLY KILLED.HOW MANY MORE DIE EACH YEAR,MODERN TAXIDERMISTS MOSTLY CHOOSE ONLY TO DO ROAD KILL TAXIDERMY,SIMPLY BECAUSE THERE IS SO MUCH AVAILABLE,THEY NO LONGER NEED TO SHOOT OR TRAP SUBJECT MATTER.
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