Having heard of the devotion your friend Herby got (and deserved), we
feel exposed to a series of urgent questions concerning Jamie, a rural
cat that died in action and has been preserved in our magazines. Jamie,
a close companion of the leader of a mobile threshing company, lost his
life when he inspected the broken mechanism of the threshing machine.
According to ancient rural customs he was dried and stored in the hole
of an oak tree. The location of this oak tree has been passed on until
the last member of the family of the former company owner died. Then the
Open Air Museum Cloppenburg accepted the responsibility to care for the
corpse, not knowing of the severe conservatory problems this would
evoke. Now we all are hopeful that you can advise us how to treat the
remnants of our dead friend. The only thing we can offer in return is
the ultimate book on dog preservation, written by Hermann Kaiser: Ein
Hundeleben. Von Bauernhunden und Karrenkötern. Alltagsgeschichte einer
geliebten und geschundenen Kreatur, Cloppenburg 1993.
As an inspiration for further communication please have a look at the
lovely face of Jamie, attached to this email.