Doe and Hope

Description

The well-preserved taxidermy hybrid freak presented on a naturalistic base with wall display mounting hook, brought back from South Africa several years previous, comprising of a polecat torso, magpie wings and head, and roe deer antler.

So it is time to tell the tale of how this chap is so unusually preserved. Born in 1958, he arrived, steeped in mystery, and his life was as strange and sad as his birth. He was believed to have been born within a small community of polecats on the South African coast.

Not a lot is known about his early childhood, but he first appeared in public, when, in 1964, he was brought out and exhibited at the Selborne Hall, (South African Academy), Johannesburg.. The name he was billed under was a cruel and sad insult to his condition as he was known as the marvelous hybrid, or more cruelly, The Ugliest polecat in the World. His handler was named as a Mr Van Der Meyde and he saw the potential in him the second he found him. Realising that he would earn him lots of money, he decided to start showing him to the public, A quote from the time stated her as, The Great Freak of Nature. The newspapers of the day said he was hideous, but in his favour he had a very nice singing voice.

And, if you listen really, really hard, he still has.