Look, I know this is the HSUS so take it with a grain of salt if you need, but the footage doesn’t lie. This is exactly what happens to these cubs and I have seen the same types of footage over and over from other sources on cub petting venues. This is the norm. But this is what you’re supporting when you pet cubs. No matter what they say, no matter how nice they look.
That said… first off what is a soft mount? A soft mountis basically a pelt that has the face mounted with a taxidermy form and is stuff with polyfill instead of mounting it with a foam body. Basically best way to explain it is a rug mounted animal except its sewn up and filled with polyfill. The trend of them began around the late 2000s if I recall and you can find a lot of them on deviantART.
As with any type of taxidermy, you’re going to find your good ones.
Ones that are okay quality.
And ones that are bad quality.
That said, a lot of buyers or commissioners would love to hear advice on buying one as well as looking for someone to commission to mount their pelts. Here I’m going to give you folks tips on that so that you’ll know what to look for.
Buyers
How much is the soft mount and how old is it? I’ve found ‘cheaper’ soft mounts that are under the $250 range for fox or coyote for example that its going to be a quality that is sub-par at best. Always remember, you pay for what you get. If you buy a cheap soft mount, your going to get cheap quality while putting a little more money in will get you a really nice animal! Age is also a factor.
Who mounted it? This one is an important one since the buyer can trace who mounted it and then find if the animal was mounted by some who just started doing taxidermy or someone that’s been doing it a long time.
Making sure they are a reliable seller. I’ve seen way too many people over the years get burned by people that were selling them and never received them or got a ruined mount.
Does it look life-like? This one is probably the best way to weed out the bad ones. Bad soft mounts I’ve found look unnatural and not life-like while the good ones are going to look like how the animal did when it was alive. The best way to figure that out is looking up what the animal looks like, look up live images in google and compare it to the soft mount. You want to get one that people would think it was alive at first glance!
Commissioners
How long has this person be doing taxidermy? I know a lot of new people getting into taxidermy try to open up commission immediately when they probably don’t know the basic on taxidermy. These are folks you want to avoid unless they are skilled right at the beginning.
When you send them an inquiry, do they ask you about your pelt? Questions like “Is the ears turned?” “Are the nose, lips and eyeslids split?” “Are the genitalia in intact on the pelt?” and so on. These are folks that know the craft well.
Turn around time. Some taxidermist vary on times, some can get them done in a few months while others a year. Make sure its someone who has a good turnaround time. Anything over a year I would be wary.
Prices. If their their prices are very low, like $150 for a fox for example…you probably want to avoid them. Found that people that undercharge are often not using quality supplies and are making the soft mounts cheaply. Research the average prices on the animal you want mounted.
Do they send WIP photos? Self-explanatory, should see progress of your commission!
Has people had good dealings with them? I know as of lately been seeing some good taxidermist who did top notch work that suddenly got a lot of bad dealings. Make sure you research the person you pick to make sure no one has had issues with them.
Do they have quality work? Look into their previous works and commissions, is there work good? Do their mounts look life-like?
Optional: Are they a licensed taxidermist and do they enter competition or compete with their works? This one more of an optional but found that licensed taxidermists are usually ones that produce okay quality work to good quality works. Bonus also if they compete since it means they are actively involved in taxidermy and that these competitions critique their work and use that to improve themselves in the long run.
These are just some of observations and advice I give to folks on soft mounts. I’ve seen a lot of bad ones over the years and nowadays the market is just littered with them. I want to educate people on how to buy them or look for people to mount there stuff. Not sure how much of an impact it might have but maybe would help change the tides on soft mounts to a degree.
If you guys have more to add, feel free! I might have missed some points but point of the post is to be educational and give advice.
Photos posted here are not mine but found via Google Images. If one of your works is up on here and would like it to be removed for any reason, message me privately and I’ll remove it. :) I made sure to use images that would be hard to trace who did what.
In addition, especially if you’re planning to send in a personal pelt to a soft mount artist, it helps to be able to distinguish if your own pelt is mountable or not. Here’s a guide for that.
Many of the ‘okay’ or ‘bad quality’ mounts shown are the results of unmountable animals being mounted. If you’re looking for something realistic and high quality, make sure to send in a mountable animal or ask the artist whether the pelt they plan to mount has eyelids, spilt lips, etc.
This is a post to go along with the Chausie pictures I have posted/will be posting. Other people, feel free to add any other things you think the “public” should know about hybrid cats.
Chausies are a mix between a Jungle Cat and a Domestic Cat. This kind of cat goes along…
Keep your furry friends safe with these important tips.
I thought raw eggs were good for dogs? Also animal bones are only dangerous if they’re cooked or smoked. Raw bones are perfectly fine and an important part of a balanced raw diet!
The marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata) is a small wild cat of South and Southeast Asia. Since 2002 it has been listed as vulnerable by IUCN as it occurs at low densities, and its total effective population size is suspected to be fewer than 10,000 mature individuals, with no single population numbering more than 1,000.
The species was once considered to belong to the pantherine lineage of “big cats”. Genetic analysis has shown that it is closely related with the Asian golden cat and the bay cat, all of which diverged from the other felids about 9.4 million years ago. -Wikipedia; Marbled cat
It is an extremely elusive cat and very rarely seen or captured on film. Due to its nocturnal behavior and low population concentrations, sightings are very few and far between.
An upcoming documentary on the issue related to captive big cats. King Without Jungle highlights how the lack of laws endangers not only the wellbeing of these species but also public safety.
meckamecha said: What is your stance on domesticated foxes? Since, they do exist (from a soviet genetic program to determine how wolves were domesticated into dogs), and are fully domestic after only sixty years.
I have a lot of mixed feelings on pet foxes, including how domesticated they truly are. I do think they are removed enough from wild foxes that they could not ever be reintroduced, but I still look at these pets as wild animals in comparison to actual domestic companion animals. If someone were to ask me if I think they make good pets, I would say no and I would never encourage someone to get one. But I have seen several examples here on tumblr of people who are able to provide properly for them, and that they seem to do well. The people that I have seen, too, make a point to say how demanding these animals are, which I think is important in their positions.
Just to point out that the vast majority of pet foxes do not originate from the Russian domestication program but instead come from regular fur farm stock that are now being bred as pets in America and Europe. Less than five foxes have ever been successfully imported from the Russian project into North America as they are very protective over where their foxes end up. It also costs around $8k to import one, compared to an average of $400-800 for an American-bred fox.
The skull of a Bengal tiger rests along side the skull of a domestic cat.
Notice the proportionally smaller braincase and eyes in the tiger, and the much larger flanges for muscle attachment, in comparison to the overall size of the skull.
As animals scale up in size, more muscle is needed to bear the additional weight and counteract the effects of gravity. To anchor the increased mass of the muscle, bones become more robust. Thicker, heavier, with larger flanges, and deeper hollows to provide the additional muscle with leverage.
It’s a cyclic system. More muscle is needed to support heavier bone which in turn supports more muscle…etc.
You’d think it could go on forever, but as animals become larger and more powerful, they also become heavier. For land predators, the cycle reaches a cutoff size when the increasing weight begins to negatively affect agility, maneuverability, and the ability to successfully catch prey.
