Delbridge Museum report won't be ready by end of year

Delays in finding assessments, answering legal questions emerge

A work group appointed to review options for the Brockhouse taxidermy collection at the Delbridge Museum of Natural History will not be ready to issue recommendations by the end of the year.

That was the original timetable when Mayor Paul Ten Haken appointed the nine-member board following an announcement by the Great Plains Zoo, which houses the Delbridge, that the museum was closed indefinitely and its collection of about 170 animals would be decommissioned. The group had been formed with the purpose of delivering a report by the end of the year to the City Council.

But at a meeting Thursday morning, Great Plains CEO Becky Dewitz, a member of the work group, said they would need more time to evaluate the collection. A Texas-based taxidermist who provides services to retailing giants Bass Pro Shop, Cabela’s and Scheels has agreed to review the collection and will be in Sioux Falls in the first week of November.

Meanwhile, Dewitz said she is also looking for a review from someone who specializes in museum collections to provide an assessment. But, because of publicity over the closure, that has been harder to come by.

“We want the best of the best,” she said. “Not everybody wants to look at this because they don’t want to be under a microscope.”

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