I saw something very disturbing yesterday. Rob and I spent the weekend going to various pawn shops and antique stores; he’s looking at guns, I’m just enjoying his company. Yesterday we stopped in at William’s Antique Gallery off of 4th Avenue.
They have some really nice stuff in there: lots of old guns, native art, bone carvings, paintings in ornate frames, etc. In the back of the store, however, we found something that almost made me want to throw up: an elephant’s foot.
An actual. Elephant’s. Foot.
Apparently they used to cut off the feet and turn them in to footstools and whatnot (pun completely intended). This one was – of all the stupid things – a ketchup dispenser!
When we asked the proprietor if it was even legal to be selling such an item, she said “Well, the Marine Mammal Act took place in 1972, but this item comes from the 1960’s.”
First of all – what the hell does the Marine Mammal Act have to do with anything? Pardon my language, but come on…
And second – I don’t think the age of an item has anything to do with the legality of it. Even if it does, it’s still just not right. Morally, it’s simply wrong to profit off of the pain & suffering of any animal, particularly when it’s for such a STUPID item as a ketchup dispenser.
Oh, I do so agree. I used to love to shop at Williams, but I think they could use better taste in their inventory, and quit long before I moved. I don’t like dead animal parts in the house anyway, no matter how old, or what kind. Looking at mounted heads on the wall is creepy. I’d rather see one of John’s fabulous animal photographs, so there!
ReplyDeleteShelly
We have one of those on the touch table at Bristol. It makes up part of a collection of similar stuff we have to discourage tourists buying souvenirs made from local wildlige, but our example was a donation from someone who found it while clearing out an attic - our best guess is that it is around 100 years old.
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