The state forest department has decided to set up a state of the art taxidermy centre at Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in Borivli. Through this venture, the department aims at teaching more people this skill, which helps in preservation of rare animals.
Taxidermy is the art of stuffing carcasses of animals or birds and preserving them. This is usually done for academic purposes. The carcass of the dead animal or bird is skinned, tanned, its skeleton crafted and a clay model cast is prepared. The original skin is then mounted on the clay model.
Rajiv Palshikar, architect for this upcoming centre, said: "It is a different kind of assignment for me. Being an animal lover, I am always curious to know about taxidermy. The new centre will a spacious three-room workshop built in a 1,200 sq-ft garage. The first room will be utilised for skinning and separating skeleton, the second for modeling and moulding of the animal form and the third for finishing and storage. Also, a ready model will be displayed in this room."
Currently, Dr Santosh Gaikwad, professor of anatomy at Bombay Veterinary College, Parel and wildlife taxidermist at SGNP, is the only person who has actively worked in this field and has been getting requests from all over the country for preserving animals.
Suresh A Thorat, additional principal chief conservator forests (Wildlife), Borivli (West), said, "There's a huge demand for such kind of skills and there are hardly any people working actively in this field. There was only one person in Mysore who used to work in this field but after him nobody has been working on this art, except, of course, Dr Gaikwad. Taxidermy is a dying art in India and we want preservation of the art for educational purpose. We will also be giving training to officials from our department. The new centre will give us good space to work on this art."
Currently, Dr Gaikwad is working on preservation and taxidermy of animals, including the deceased Shobha (lioness of SGNP), Raja (leopard of SGNP), Jimi (lioness of Byculla zoo), Silver pheasant, Brown wood owl, Cub of Himalayan black bear ( of Nainital zoo), Slender lorris (of Kolhapur forest division), Night heron, Cattle egret (of SGNP) and Sheep (of Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute -Awikanagar).
Gaikwad has made models of 25 animals till date, which include a lion, a lioness, a leopard and a python. Also, he has made models of more than 150 birds. "Not only from the zoo authorities, but individuals have also come to me for taxidermy of their animal and birds.
The demand is high but nobody is working on this art. Now, through this new centre, the SGNP authority has planned to start a course for educational purpose. I am very happy that the forest department is taking keen interest to set up this centre. It is expected to come up by December this year," said Dr Gaikwad.
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