# The Gopher Hole Museum. Simply Unforgettable. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 26, 2008, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275 "2008-08-26T02:20:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![meek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce73a5/32.png) [@meek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meek)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275/1 "2008-08-26T02:20:09Z")
The pictures speak for themselves. [Flicker Link.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/13688419@N05/2798571792/in/set-72157606956953281/) Yes, they are/were real gophers. . ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275/2 "2008-08-26T02:39:34Z")
I don’t think I’ll ever forget that, no matter how hard I try. The speech balloons really add something. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275/3 "2008-08-26T04:10:14Z")
It appears to be the life work of a truly disturbed person. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275/4 "2008-08-26T04:14:58Z")
Please tell me those aren’t real dead stuffed gophers. ETA: That’s what I get for not reading the OP. And… BLECH!!! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275/5 "2008-08-26T04:30:15Z")
We keep meaning to go there. Maybe this summer. Oh, and the only good gopher is a dead gopher. Little bastards. (You can take the girl out of Saskatchewan…😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275/6 "2008-08-26T04:30:49Z")
They look pretty odd to our modern eyes, but in ye olden days that sort of taxidermy was fairly common. [Here’s some squirrels](http://www.ravishingbeasts.com/display/ShowJournal?moduleId=900566®isteredAuthorId=126289) made by my great great grandfather. ---
**Author:** ![FarmerChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@FarmerChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FarmerChick)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275/7 "2008-08-26T04:52:56Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] We keep meaning to go there. Maybe this summer. Oh, and the only good gopher is a dead gopher. Little bastards. (You can take the girl out of Saskatchewan…😃 ) [/QUOTE] Take me too! And the only thing better then a dead gopher is two dead gophers. ---
**Author:** ![Superfreaknduper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Superfreaknduper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfreaknduper)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275/8 "2008-08-26T07:11:49Z")
What’s funnier than a dead gopher? A dead gopher in a clown suit ---
**Author:** ![meenie7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7993a0/32.png) [@meenie7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meenie7)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275/9 "2008-08-26T08:17:00Z")
That…well, that’s a guy who really likes to humilate dead rodents. 🙂 And apparently, it is located in yet another Torrington. (I live in one myself. :)) ---
**Author:** ![meek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce73a5/32.png) [@meek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meek)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275/10 "2008-08-26T14:42:23Z")
The fighting squirrels are cool **Tapioca Dextrin**! The taxidermy work appears to have been done by a dude named Ken, and Hazel is the lady who does the rest. (At least, according to the Hazel’s poem in pic 2) **Superfreaknduper** , They had a circus scene with a dead gopher in a clown suit. I must have missed that pic. **featherlou** , that’s about the only thing to see in Torrington. The museum is the highlight of the village. My double garage is bigger. It’s not exactly the Royal Terrell. You may want to reconsider your visit and save the two buck entry fee, plus gas. . ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275/11 "2008-08-26T14:50:17Z")
Those pictures are most excellent. Thanks for sharing. (And thanks to **TD** for sharing as well!) ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275/12 "2008-08-26T14:55:08Z")
Those are gophers? They look like Prairie Dogs. I got a shudder when I thought about the taxidermy…I hope they don’t have an XXX rated area in “the back” for an extra dollar! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275/13 "2008-08-26T15:04:08Z")
T’wernt no Gopher Baroque. That’s a disappointment. ---
**Author:** ![meek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce73a5/32.png) [@meek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meek)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275/14 "2008-08-26T15:10:10Z")
[Here’s](http://gauntlet.ucalgary.ca/story/3196) an old press clipping from 1999, with some background. . ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275/15 "2008-08-26T15:21:06Z")
Good heavens, they got a government grant to build the museum? That’s positively brilliant! Government-funded craziness, what a wonderful idea! ---
**Author:** ![FarmerChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@FarmerChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FarmerChick)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275/16 "2008-08-26T16:18:50Z")
[QUOTE=meek] [Here’s](http://gauntlet.ucalgary.ca/story/3196) an old press clipping from 1999, with some background. . [/QUOTE] Got to love those crazy PETA folks. from the clipping > [@](#): > > “We weren’t trying to knock the museum,” said PETA representative and Wildlife Case Worker Stephanie Boyles. “[We felt] if you were going to use stuffed animals anyway, why not use prefabricated models?”… > > “Unfortunately, these animals have already been killed.”… > > The Torrington tourism committee replied to PETA with a postcard reading simply, “get stuffed.” I love it! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275/17 "2008-08-26T17:10:19Z")
Every gopher is sacred, every gopher is great. I’ll tell you one thing; farmers on the prairies would gladly shoot members of Peta along with the gophers. **Phlosphr** - they look like [Richardson’s Ground Squirrels to me](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richardson's_Ground_Squirrel). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275/18 "2008-08-26T17:24:10Z")
Some of those backgrounds were really nice. The fishing and hunting ones were my favorites. But, yeah, those people are nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275/19 "2008-08-26T18:21:17Z")
Maybe I’m just easily amused, but I think that’s awesome. Everybody needs a hobby. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275/20 "2008-08-26T19:02:35Z")
[QUOTE=Silver Tyger Girl] Maybe I’m just easily amused, but I think that’s awesome. Everybody needs a hobby. [/QUOTE] But you’re a furry…Doesn’t taxidermy bother you on some level? Killing some animal and making it spend its afterlife in a cutesy pose? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gopher-hole-museum-simply-unforgettable/461275.md?page=2)