[Nhcoll-l] Horrible ;-) taxidermized birds and mammals

Wed Jan 25 13:33:31 EST 2023

Hi John,

often, these mounts - even though ugly and mostly of limited scientific value, belong to protected species. In Europe, for example, all Birds are covered in the Birds directive and there are general prohibitions regarding "trade". Usually, trade in this context covers the "offering", i.e. creating an opportunity or incentive to obtain  a (protected) specimen.

At least in the EU, not even Natural History Collections and Museum are excluded; see further details below which I emailed offline to Sergio and another colleague who emailed me today. I guess there are equivalent laws in North America which in principle sanction "trade". Moreover, often - not always - these "mounts" are hunting trophies of CITES or otherwise protected species, which adds another dimension. Here in the EU, the owning and possessing is prohibited (see details below); the only exclusion here are hunters and their heirs, which can do whatever they want with the specimens. But also in this case, this transfer in ownership should be carefully documented.

Also worth noting is that usually respective laws cover not only "the specimen", but all parts and derivatives. CITES for example covers also all tissue or DNA samples derived from a CITES specimen.

In this context, all cases in table 10.5-2 are problematic, and it might be worth adding a cautionary remark. Note that even "display" - if the respective museum charges entrance fees - can be interpreted as "commercial activity". In Germany, respective laws where changed not too long ago - after intervention of the consortium of the German Natural History Collections. So there is not only a real risk for negative publicity, but also for legal penalties.

For the first line in Table 10.5-1, there could also be a cultural value, so it might be worth changing this to Historic or cultural value - I am thinking of the early artefacts in the chambers of curiosity, for example, but it could also be iconic zoo specimens, that were mounted and have more than a historic value.

For the second to last line (Need for conservation work) long-term maintenance of the specimen might be worth taking into consideration. Basically also staff time and investment in treatment, but on a different time scale. Could also include need to enhance climate control etc. to keep the mount stable in the long run (think of the investments to the beautiful Vogelsaal in Bamberg).

My two cents, hopefully useful.

With best wishes
Dirk

********
trade is the offering and opportunity, and currently, there is no exemption in the European conservation or species protection legislation I would be aware of. For natural history collections taking entrance fees, national implementation may understand this as being 'commercial'. The German law was just amended few years back specific that specimens in Natural History Collections are not meant here (and such specific language normally is unusual, you would expect something like 'display for educational purpose').

338/97 is the cornerstone of the EU species protection law, originally designed to implement CITES within the EU. "Trade" here means movement over international borders. With establishment of the Single Market in the EU, 338/97 became irrelevant for the movement of CITES specimens within the EU, as you or the specimens no longer cross international borders.

In Art. 8 of 338/97, you find the "Provisions relating to the control of commercial activities", which cover "display to the public for commercial purposes", which may be entrance fees.

Be aware that this not only applies to complete specimens, but also to parts thereof, e.g., the public offering of tissue or DNA samples of protected species, e.g. if your institution "offers" such samples from their own cryo facilities in the museums website.

There is a "Derogation from Article 8(1) of Regulation (EC) No 338/97 for the benefit of scientific institutions" in Article 60 of the respective implementing regulation (EC) No 865/2006 approved by a management authority in consultation with a scientific authority, but this to be testified by the national authority in the respective EU Member State.

The Convention on the conservation of European wildlife and natural habitats<https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A21979A0919%2801%29> in its article 6 includes the
 prohibitions mentioned:

a) all forms of deliberate killing
...
e) the possession of and internal trade (= commercial and non-commerical = change in ownership) in these animals, live and dead, including stuffed animals and any readily recognizable part or derivative (=tissues and DNA samples) thereof, where this would contribute to the effectiveness of the provisions of this Article

There are no general exemptions for Natural History Collection or Biodiversity Monitoring. Definitely something worth looking into via the CETAF legs and regs Working Group, which I chair.

Hope this helps
Dirk

Am 25.01.2023 um 18:56 schrieb John E Simmons:
Very interesting discussion and suggestions for what to do with old taxidermy mounts.

I have attached two decision tables from a draft of a manuscript under preparation for a publication on the care of natural history collections. Any comments or suggestions on the tables will be appreciated.

--John

John E. Simmons
Writer and Museum Consultant
Museologica
and
Associate Curator of Collections
Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery
Penn State University
and
Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitologia
Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima

On Wed, Jan 25, 2023 at 9:22 AM Leslie L Skibinski <lls94 at cornell.edu<mailto:lls94 at cornell.edu>> wrote:
No one has mentioned the possibility that these taxidermied mounts may contain arsenic, mercury etc.  Before doing anything with them they should be tested.  If you work with them make sure to use protective equipment.  If they do contain “bad stuff” they need to be disposed of as hazardous waste.  I don’t know what that may entail in the EU.  Maybe someone else could weigh in on that aspect.

--Leslie

Leslie L. Skibinski
Collection Manager

Paleontological Research Institution
1259 Trumansburg Road
Ithaca, New York  14850
Phone:  (607) 273-6623  ext. 128
Fax:  (607) 273-6620

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>> On Behalf Of Sergio Montagud
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2023 7:20 AM
To: Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Horrible ;-) taxidermized birds and mammals

Hello everyone,

Last week we received some items of taxidermized birds and mammals in a very bad condition. Not only they are bad preserved, with dust and feather/hair fallen, also they have no data about origin, date or taxidermist. There are not interesting species, all are common except five or six that could be considered as rare.

This type of donations is frequent because most people are received now properties of their families that traditionally have these kinds of pieces.

I would ask you if anyone have experienced with these sorts of exx. and try to reuse in other terms. I want to say if they take them, extract the skull, and discard the rest or something like these.  Ideas and experiences are welcome. Evidently, invest time to recover these is not considered.

Thanks a lot

Sergio

********************************
Sergio Montagud Alario
Museu [UV] Història Natural
Universitat de València
e-mail: sergio.montagud at uv.es<mailto:sergio.montagud at uv.es>
********************************
_______________________________________________
Nhcoll-l mailing list
Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l

_______________________________________________
NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information.
Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate.

_______________________________________________
Nhcoll-l mailing list
Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l

_______________________________________________
NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information.
Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate.

--
****

Dirk Neumann
Collection Manager, Hamburg

Postal address:
Museum of Nature Hamburg
Leibniz Institute for the Analysis
of Biodiversity Change
Dirk Neumann
Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3
20146 Hamburg
+49 40 238 317 – 628
d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de<mailto:d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de>
www.leibniz-lib.de<imap://dneumann@webmail.leibniz-lib.de:993/fetch%3EUID%3E/INBOX/Privat/www.leibniz-lib.de>

--
Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversitätswandels
Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany

Stiftung des öffentlichen Rechts;
Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Grüter (Kaufm. Geschäftsführer)
Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn
Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst

--
Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversitätswandels
Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany

Stiftung des öffentlichen Rechts;
Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Grüter (Kaufm. Geschäftsführer)
Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn
Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20230125/0e9fcd8a/attachment.html>