Trigger Point

So did you hear that Trigger, Roy Rogers' stuffed horse, was auctioned off by Christie's last week for the amazing sum of $265,500? Or that Buttermilk, the stuffed horse that belonged to his wife, Dale Evans, fetched $25,000? Their singing German Shepherd, Bullet, by the way went for $35,000. That's a lot of money for taxidermy.

At least that's what Everett Wilkenson, the man who preserved Trigger back in the day, believes. Wilkenson, who is 89, worked for Bischoff's Taxidermy & Animal FX, one of the largest animal prop businesses on the West Coast.

According to owner Gary Bischoff, the cost of mounting Trigger was about $10,000-$12,000 and since foam core was not mass produced back then, Wilkenson had to make his own. Bischoff believes Trigger "belongs in a museum" and that is just what buyer RFD-TV is hoping will happen. They plan to build a Western Museum around Trigger.

Comanche, the only horse to survive Custer's Last Stand is another marvel of taxidermy. He resides in the Museum of the University of Kansas and still attracts a steady stream of visitors. Closer to my home the Civil War Museum boasts the stuffed head of Robert E. Lee's horse.

Meanwhile business at Bischoff's has never been better. They manufacture animal props for movies, television and advertising, some of which you would certainly recognize like Frank, the pug, from Men in Black, the Taco Bell chicken or the Aflac duck.

One thing they don't do: human bodies or body parts.