More and more people are resorting to taxidermy to keep their beloved pets 'alive'.
Taxidermy is the latest fad which Mumbaikars have taken to. After their beloved pet dies, owners in an attempt to keep its memories, are approaching a taxidermist to preserve them.
Dr Santosh Gaikwad, the country’s sole taxidermist who operates from the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), has been inundated with requests from pet owners, especially Macaw owners, to get their beloved pets preserved for several years.
Macaws are large parrots with red, yellow and blue colours and they belong to the Neotropical species of parrots. They are native to the humid evergreen forests of tropical South America.
Taxidermy is the art of stuffing the carcass of an animal to preserve it for display or educational purpose.
Dr Yuvraj Kaginkar, a well-known veterinarian, who runs an animal hospital at Kharghar had approached Dr Gaikwad to preserve a pet scarlet macaw after its death.
“Many people visit our hospital for the treatment of animals and birds. The scarlet macaw was brought in with a liver ailment. But it died after some days of treatment. The owner wanted to bury it, but I asked him if I could keep it with me. I approached Dr Gaikwad and within a month he made a nice trophy of this bird. People are now getting aware of this art,” said Dr Kaginkar.
Ever since he set up the taxidermy centre at SGNP in 2009, Dr Gaikwad has made several animal trophies. These include a lion, a leopard, a python, an ostrich and more than 150 other birds. He has also preserved a 140-year-old turtle which was found in a Pune river.
Dr Gaikwad, who is an associate professor at the Bombay Veterinary College, said, “Till recently, only the zoo authority was approaching me for animal taxidermy; but now, people come with requests for taxidermy for their beloved pet birds. Last year, I preserved seven pet birds through taxidermy.”
“Taxidermy involves skinning, tanning of the skin, preparation of the skeleton, clay modelling in natural size, moulding, casting, mounting of the skin,” he added.
India has four national museums of natural history — in Mysore, Bhopal, Bhubhaneswar and Delhi — where animal trophies are preserved.
About taxidermy
Taxidermy (Greek for ‘moving skin’) is the art of mounting or reproducing animals for display.
Taxidermy can be done on all species of animals and even on humans. After removing the skin, the muscle fibres and bones are measured and posed. The carcass is then moulded in plaster.
The carcass is later removed and the mould is used to produce a cast of the animal. Glass eyes and artificial teeth are added to the display.
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