Taxidermist Brings Wildlife Close To Home

The intersection of First avenue South and Spokane Street is not exactly the place for wildlife.

But nearby, on a rock that juts from a building, stands a huge polar bear, snarling at the passing vehicles.

Not a real polar bear but a reproduction, a trademark of Klineburger Brothers Taxidermy, one of the world's most successful taxidermists. Now in its 55th year, the company employs 15 and has annual gross sales of about $750,000, a figure that changes little, says company president. He runs the company with his wife, Colleene, and their son, Kent.

The old wood-frame building houses hundreds of exotic creatures poised to attack. Lions, bears, cheetahs and other predators are frozen in lifelike poses.

Other animals on display are elk, sheep, goats, gorillas, water buffalo, kangaroos and others killed on locations around the world.

The place doesn't smell as awful, as one might imagine. Skins handled by taxidermists are often salted at the scene of the killing to remove moisture from the skin and kill bacteria. The company ships the skins to fur dressers, who prepare the skins just as fur coats are preserved, leavingthe heads, legs and eye sockets attached.

The strongest smell comes from the fiberglass molds over which skin is stretched. Once attached to the mold, clay may be added to give the skin more definition. Coloring and other steps help give the skin the look of a living animal.

Sometimes a mold for one animal can be re-used for a similar-sized animal. Fish, however, require a completely new mold over which the delicate fish skin is applied. Since fish heads have so much oil, the head is tossed and a fake is used. The taxidermist then must paint the skin to achieve the proper color and sheen.

The fish usually is mounted on a piece of wood, but Klineburger can have it leaping from water at the feet of a Grizzly Bear. It all depends on the scene the client desires.

Prices vary by size and desired pose. Mounting a salmon might cost $600 or $700. A lifesize mount of a zebra costs $3,295. A monkey costs $1,395. An elk costs $3,200.

Mounting a fish might take four or five days; mounting a bear takes a couple of weeks.

The business was started in Seattle in 1937 by the Jonas family and eventually taken over by Chris Klineburger and two of his brothers, Bert and Gene. It moved to its present location in 1982.

At one point, says Klineburger, the company was the largest of its kind. But various competitors have emerged, including some ex-employees who left to start their own companies.

Chris Klineburger says a skilled taxidermist is more artist than technician. A taxidermist himself, Klineburger has observered animals in their natural settings and mastered painting and sculpturing.

Changes in game laws and attitudes toward hunting have affected the industry, but Klineburger still has clients around the world, including Saudi princes, former cowboy star Roy Rogers, whose horse, Trigger, was mounted by a different company, various executives and even a few U.S. astronauts. Other clients include museums here and abroad.

One Saudi prince wanted to ship a tiger and gaur, a wild ox, from Nepal to Seattle for mounting. But U.S. game laws prohibited that. So a taxidermist from Klineburger flew there, measured the skins and came back to Seattle, where the molds were made. The skin and molds were assembled and finished in Saudi Arabia.

Chris Klineburger said tigers are less numerous in some parts of the world but plentiful in Nepal. His company will not handle any animals listed as endangered.

Animal rights activists have never protested Klineburger's work. Chris Klineburger says, "Hunting is a very important part of nature. If you remove man from a wildlife situation, it gets out of balance. The herds gets overpopulated and runs out of food. Man has got to be the steward of wildlife, but he's got to do it properly."