I didn’t imagine I would visit a place on this trip where I gawked at figure after figure of antique taxidermy. But I did. The Natural History Museum in Dublin is both startling and intriguing. Though saying it might be a stretch, the museum is even oddly beautiful. Being from the American South, I’ve seen a lot of animals both alive in nature and mounted on the walls of family and friends. Where I come from, the white-tail deer is the animal that people hunt the most—albeit for the sustenance and not only sport. The food harvested from the animals mounted in the Natural History Museum likely would have been donated to the local towns around where they were killed. Such is still the custom. But I assume many of the animals would have killed solely for sport or culling or displaying.
Don’t get me wrong. Seeing the animals was so interesting. But something about the mass collection of the dead was eerie. Obviously, I’ve never stood so close to animals such as large cats, hippopotamuses, whales, bears, etc, so the moment was educational and eye-opening. But my eyes were opened wider to my place in the world and, more importantly, the place that animals fill in the world. I eat meat. I have for all my life. But in recent years I’ve become more sensitive (if not sensitive, than definitely considerate) to where the meat that I enjoy comes from. People often argue over shared space, claiming that those spaces should be negotiated with manners and kindness.
When I stand face-to-face with a terrifying and beautiful animal such as this hippo, I think about how the space that we should be sharing with the animals around us is often seized or destroyed with little consideration of who would have called that home. Fortunately, over the years, others have become more concerned with the animals’ place in the world, leading to wildlife conservation and ethically-sourced meats and vegetables. But seeing the scores of cases and once-living statues of animals speaks to how they are still denied their rightful place aside humans.
