In that case, why not get them FREEZE DRIED?
Yep, that's right. Freeze-dried.
In case you're also going 'WTF?' in the same way that I was:
How Does the Freeze-Drying Process Work? (from the Perpetual Pets site)
'The animal is carefully prepared and posed, supported by a custom made framework. It is then placed into a sealed vacuum chamber at extremely low temperature. Over time, frozen moisture is slowly converted into a gaseous state, and then extracted. The larger the subject, the greater the amount of moisture to be extracted. Typically, a small cat or dog will take 10 to 12 weeks. Larger pets will take a longer period of time, perhaps as much as 6 months in the case of a very large dog. However, all pets are unique, and sometimes take a bit more or less time than expected.'
My. Goodnes
s.Here to the left is poor little Cisco, who has clearly been treated with the respect and dignity that such a noble dog deserves.
Check out the gallery for photos of just how real your animal can look after dying, being placed in a freeze-drier, and having its very vitals slowly sucked out over a period of three months.
I can only assume it's just a matter of time before these processes can be applied to humans too.
Gross and kinda psychotic! Pet obsession always freaks me out a little...
ReplyDeleteI get to use my favorite word here. Anthropomorphism. I do it myself, with pets, gaumless relatives, odd looking rocks, etc. Usually just for my own amusement. It's funny to imagine their lives, their character, and so on. But I think this is quite strange.
ReplyDeleteIt's impossible to attempt any analysis, and ascribe motivations as to why someone would do this. You can really only generalize without specific details, but this does come across as freakishly sad. Milo And Otis was not a documentary.
Once something has lost it's anima, it's gone. Something once loved is far better a memory, rather than a pair of dead eyes staring at you while you make some coffee.
As a kid in the Eighties I had a disturbingly large number of relatives who owned the 'Mongoose Fighting Two Cobras' taxidermy piece (most likely knock-offs).
ReplyDeleteIt was a delightful surprise to see a similar piece in the feature adaptation of the Ghost World comic book:
INT. SEYMOUR & JOE'S GARAGE SALE - DAY
..Enid & Rebecca tentatively approach. Enid spots a MONGOOSE VS. COBRA taxidermy piece near Joe...
ENID
Ew, look at this...
REBECCA
Gross!
ENID
I think it's cute - look at his little weasel teeth.
REBECCA
Ew, it's like some gross rat...
JOE
(hardly looking up from TV)
It's a mongoose.
REBECCA
Mm...
ENID
A what?
JOE
A mongoose... they eat snakes... you never heard of a mongoose? That's a classic piece of vintage taxidermy. Nobody alive today knows how to do work like that.
ENID
(looking underneath it)
How much is this?
JOE
Umm... That's not officially for sale... I might have to hang onto that for the time being.