BEMIDJI, Minn. (AP) - The demand for European mount taxidermy is on the rise, according to a northern Minnesota man who’s averaging about 400 skulls a year.
Tony Petrie of Bemidji works as a sergeant in the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office, but practices taxidermy in his spare time, Minnesota Public Radio reported.
Unlike the traditional shoulder mount taxidermy approach that seeks to preserve an animal’s look, Petrie’s European mount taxidermy approach involves stripping an animal to its core to clean its skull.
Petrie begins by skinning the head, which he does by cutting into the animal’s skin and fur and peeling back the material from the ears. He then empties the brain cavity by using a compressor to blast air into the space.
“There’s a lot of fat in the brain,” Petrie said. “Fat is the enemy. It stains the bone.”
Petrie then places the skull into a maceration tank filled with hot water, which allows bacteria to bloom and eat away at the meat and tallow. The skull is then scrubbed clean and treated with chemicals.
“For someone who has never seen a skull like this,” he said, “all clean and white and broken down, it’s incredible. They just look down and go, ’Oh my goodness.’”
Petrie said he charges $130 per skull and averages 400 skulls a year, which nets him more than $50,000 a year before taking into account costs for supplies.
Petrie said that while demand is rising, he remains the only taxidermist within a few hundred miles of Bemidji. He said competition likely isn’t increasing because such work is “not for everyone.” Some taxidermists will take projects but then contract the dirty work to Petrie or out-of-state operations.
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Information from: Minnesota Public Radio News, http://www.mprnews.org
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