Gopher Hole Museum
June 25, 2008 4:40 PM Subscribe
While in Torrington, Alberta you can visit the world famous Gopher Hole Museum. The museum features dioramas of taxidermied Richardson’s Ground Squirrels in humorous situations.
Didn't Martin Luther nail a ground squirrel to the door of the Wittenburg church?
posted by ...possums at 4:50 PM on June 25, 2008
posted by ...possums at 4:50 PM on June 25, 2008
According to the WikiPedia link, Saskatchewan recently had a Whacking Day type "festival" (read: cull) with these guys instead of snakes. That kind of sucks a bit of the fun out of the dioramas.
(That, and all the backwards speech bubbles.)
posted by Sys Rq at 4:54 PM on June 25, 2008
(That, and all the backwards speech bubbles.)
posted by Sys Rq at 4:54 PM on June 25, 2008
The metafilter gopher has been taxidermied since June 21, 2001.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 5:07 PM on June 25, 2008
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 5:07 PM on June 25, 2008
This looks just wonderful. I mean it. I wish I could go.
posted by marxchivist at 5:14 PM on June 25, 2008
posted by marxchivist at 5:14 PM on June 25, 2008
These very well may be the lost missing link twixt cave paintings and LOLCATS.
posted by vrakatar at 6:15 PM on June 25, 2008
posted by vrakatar at 6:15 PM on June 25, 2008
I used to work in the Torrington area, and have visited the Gopher Hole Museum. However, the most enjoyable memory of my time in Torrington was not the museum - it was attending one of their village council meetings where a great deal of time was devoted to a developing problem as a result of the museum.
It seems another village in Alberta had decided to give a gift to the town - a pair of gophers of a particularly rare colour; I can't remember specifically what hue. Everyone thought this was fantastic, until they realized the pair was still alive and that they had to figure out how to appropriately house and display a pair of live gophers. The discussion was lively and fun, although I don't recall the end result.
I also had a colleague at the time who had a great line she used to deal with guys hitting on her in bars. She would tell them she was the dead gopher museum's contract killer.
posted by never used baby shoes at 6:28 PM on June 25, 2008
It seems another village in Alberta had decided to give a gift to the town - a pair of gophers of a particularly rare colour; I can't remember specifically what hue. Everyone thought this was fantastic, until they realized the pair was still alive and that they had to figure out how to appropriately house and display a pair of live gophers. The discussion was lively and fun, although I don't recall the end result.
I also had a colleague at the time who had a great line she used to deal with guys hitting on her in bars. She would tell them she was the dead gopher museum's contract killer.
posted by never used baby shoes at 6:28 PM on June 25, 2008
There may be entire civilizations living on the gopher .
posted by hortense at 10:17 PM on June 25, 2008
posted by hortense at 10:17 PM on June 25, 2008
Those fleas are fucking awesome, hortense. Like a Mexican version of Netsuke almost...
posted by PeterMcDermott at 5:26 AM on June 26, 2008
posted by PeterMcDermott at 5:26 AM on June 26, 2008
The Gophers at Gopher Hole are a bit disappointing though. Particularly if you ever got the opportunity to visit Mr Potter's fine collection of Victorian Taxidermy at Jamaica Inn.
It was a weird place to visit though. There were so many exhibits there, that the dominant sensation was the overpowering odour of death and formaldehyde.
Here are some of the Potter items ithat have since been disbursed far and wide, sadly. Personally, I think the National Lottery should have bought them and donated them to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 5:33 AM on June 26, 2008
It was a weird place to visit though. There were so many exhibits there, that the dominant sensation was the overpowering odour of death and formaldehyde.
Here are some of the Potter items ithat have since been disbursed far and wide, sadly. Personally, I think the National Lottery should have bought them and donated them to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 5:33 AM on June 26, 2008
I drove past the sign for this museum several times en route to other attractions in Alberta, like the Badlands and um, Vulcan. I always wondered what the hell the story was with this museum. Thanks.
posted by joannemerriam at 9:09 AM on June 26, 2008
posted by joannemerriam at 9:09 AM on June 26, 2008
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posted by lysistrata at 4:44 PM on June 25, 2008