This is a great question - if you folks don't mind, please respond to the list on Bill's email. Cecelia Ottenweller --- William Bevil <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > This is a question aimed more at the "natural history museum types" > out there...though no doubt everyone would have an opinion on the > subject. > > Given the crisis regarding the decline of songbird populations > across > the Western Hemisphere, can anyone address how their museums > are modifying or addressing the issue in relation to their > collecting > policies? This topic is certainly applicable to the collection of > other > animals and natural objects (shells, etc.) > > At our museum, the issue of collecting live animals (and the use of > taxidermy in general) is becoming more and more thorny. We have > not done this in quite some time, I think partly because we are > paralyzed on this issue. Truthfully, we lack very little in our > collection > that we would need to acquire anything else, but occasionally it > does > come up. And we do have existing taxidermy displays in the museum > which need maintenance. > > I personally do not like the idea of collecting animals for use in > displays, regardless of its purpose, but am also at a loss for > substitutions. Artificial specimens would be preferable in the > "ethical > arena", but they are prohibitively expensive, difficult to acquire > and are > (inexplicably) usually disappointing to visitors ("You mean it's > not a > real bird?") It's like fossil casts vs. the real fossil -the cast > is > somehow invalidated immediately in people's minds, even though it's > an almost exact copy. > > I am interested to hear how other museums are approaching this. > > Thanks! > > William J. Bevil > Exhibits Manager > Fernbank Museum of Natural History > 404.929.6343 > 404.370.8087 (fax) > [log in to unmask] > > ========================================================= > Important Subscriber Information: > > The Museum-L FAQ file is located at > http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed > information about the listserv commands by sending a one line > e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the > message should read "help" (without the quotes). > > If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail > message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message > should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).