Cost of Brockhouse Collection review mounting

Work group studying options for 170-specimen taxidermy collection nearing $80K

The amount of money spent on a study of a now-shuttered 170-specimen taxidermy display at the Great Plains Zoo and Delbridge Museum is adding up.

More than eight months after Mayor Paul TenHaken and zoo administration opted to close the exhibit of rare, exotic, and deteriorating mounts at the natural history wing of the central Sioux Falls facility, the Brockhouse Collection at Delbridge Museum working group has racked up $78,207.93 on consultants, taxidermy experts, and lawyers while vetting options for the city. And with another $10,000 authorized should the need for more legal advice arise, the project could hit $90,000 before a single piece is moved, repaired, or scrapped.

“It’s such a unique problem the city is facing, and we needed to cover all the angles,” said Alex Jensen, one of two Sioux Falls City Councilors serving on the work group. “That’s the reason why we had to spend this money.”

The Delbridge Museum at the Great Plains Zoo abruptly closed in August following the detection of arsenic in several of the mounted animals, many of which were bagged in Africa during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s when the hazardous chemical was commonly used in taxidermy. Initially, the zoo and City Hall intended to decommission the exhibits and dispose of the collection.

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