On Friday afternoon, several taxidermy animals found a new home at the Knight Museum in Alliance.
Museum Director Becci Thomas said she is excited about the chance to offer a home to multiple taxidermy works, noting they help show the history of the region’s animals, including an 8 foot tall bear.
“I think they’ll be a wonderful addition here,” said Thomas. “The bear is kind of different. It’s just so large. We’ve never really had anything, other than the horse, that’s so big. I’m an artist on the side, so I appreciate the artistic value of how they’re finished. I think kids will be kind of fascinated by that.”
This serendipity donation comes from the estate of Floyd Buddy Rogers, Thomas explained, as they pieces could not be sold.
“Due to its prohibition or lack of documentation, they could not sell most of them,” Thomas said. “So, all their stuff went through the Nebraska Game and Parks authorization of what to do.”
Thomas said museum staff traveled to Lincoln to pick up the items on Oct. 28.
Some of the other pieces acquired include a big horn sheep, a badger and a wolverine.
“The partners group bought the badger and the wolverine,” said Thomas. “When they got down there, they donated a bunch of hides and geese. I really appreciate these people, they had somebody doing this estate, a business down in Lincoln called Changing Spaces SRS. They were very helpful. They were very easy to work with for us. They made this pretty painless.”
Thomas anticipates the items will be on display before the Christmas festival. She explained the museum has been on the hunt for taxidermy for years.
“We have been looking for taxidermy since we started the new museum 12 years ago,” Thomas said. “We only really want animals that have been in or through the Sandhills area. We’d really like to find a prairie dog, couple of jack rabbits and a full-sized deer. Those are kind of our goals, which will fill out our animal collection.”