Appropriateness of Taxidermy Heads in the Office?
I don’t have any in mine but I’ve been in a few offices that do. Is that appropriate? I’m not sure maybe it depends a little on your job. I think there are few offices that I’ve been in that do not have some personal items that reflect the occupants interest.
This topic has come up because it seems a high ranking New York Police official has been ordered to remove his game heads from his office at Police Headquarters.
Chief Michael Scagnelli, an avid hunter in his off-hours, was told his taxidermy trophies - bison, birds, elk, deer - had to be taken down when he moved into a new office in Police Headquarters.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who gave the order, also said Scagnelli would have to pay movers to cart the offending wildlife out of his 11th-floor offices, sources said.
Scagnelli is popular among the rank-and-file, but some of the Police Headquarters honchos aren’t fans of his stuffed trophies.
“It’s offensive,” one source said. “This is city property and the guy is extolling killing”
I’ve never been in Police Headquarters to know for sure but I’d be surprised that others do not have personal items on display that may be offensive to someone. Is this policy being applied equally across the board? Anyone have scripture or a Bible? A Koran? A photo of Bill or Hillary Clinton? Cultural artifacts?
I was in an office one time where a marine reservist had a bayonet hanging on his wall, a clear violation of the no weapons allowed policy for the place we worked but an important item for him. I’ve been in many of offices that have scribbled on sheets of papers hanging on the walls & file cabinets obviously from children and grandchildren of the office occupant but useless ugly art work if you ask me. This day and age it is nearly impossible to avoid offending someone and if that is the line we draw then you better leave all personal items out of the office.
If the real reason is that “guy is extolling killing” then I have an issue with it. My displaying of game trophies is not to extol the act of killing but to honor the creature and the beauty of the animal. I kill animals for food and to maintain a connection with our ancestors who did this as part of their every day life like we hit the grocery store. A few of the animals I take have a special meaning to me for a wide variety of reasons and those I save a part of them for display in a place of honor.
I don’t know if in a public office like a police station whether it is right or wrong to display them I just know for me in my work situation I wouldn’t. What do others think?
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I think a lot of people don’t understand hunting, so you take a big risk hanging up trophies. My mother for one would be very offended if you had a dead animal hanging on your wall. (She still visits us though!) And even those who do understand hunting don’t always like trophies - like most of the wives of the hunters I know.
I think you should be able to express who you are but you need to decide if people will understand or not, be offended or not, etc.
Comment by Stormy — December 31, 2007 @ 12:44 am
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Good question, Moose. Clearly, any public officials’ public sector office should not be a place to display wildlife trophies as well as any other politically sensitive items. Displaying mounts in offices in the private sector is purely a matter of company policy and personal taste. Personally I enjoy seeing quality wildlife mounts but wonder if those who are truely offended do not visit or buy from retailers like Cabela’s?
Mike
Comment by Mike Weekes — December 31, 2007 @ 10:01 am
This is one of the most interesting topics I have seen in a while. Not just here in Moose Droppings, but in general. I teach at a public school and wondered how appropriate it would be to bring some mounts into “My” classroom.
Last year I got into trouble at another school for having a picture of myself on my school website page with a deer and gun.
At what point do we worry about being to PC in this day an age? I worked for a principal that had tons of golf memoriabilia (sp) around his ofice. What is the difference?
Actually in the private sector you can get away with it much easier than in the public where we are always afraid of offending someone.
Comment by CJ Flay — December 31, 2007 @ 10:41 am
“At what point do we worry about being PC in this day an age?”
Unfortunately, when it comes to my paycheck I start to worry. I work with the public on a daily basis, in and out of 10-15 houses/businesses. I had forgotten my hat at home one day and actually found one of my basspro camo hats in the van, I slipped it on, and finished out my day. Would you know that a customer felt “obligated” to call in and let my supervisors know that a company of our “standard” should provide their employees with hats rather than her having to look at some “redneck” camoflage”. Needless to say, I was called into the office and pretty much told, no hat was more appropriate than a camoflage hat and to not let it happen it again.
So, from a first hand experience with the way the public views things, I can see where having some mounts in an office could cause a stir.
Comment by SouthernAdventures — December 31, 2007 @ 10:56 am
After posting this story I have really been thinking about it a lot. I work for the County Government and in the past I’ve worked for two different State governments (Maine & North Carolina) I’ve never had a game head on display in any of my offices. The walls of my office have a lot of wildlife shots but all of very much alive critters. Now I’ll admit that I have hunting & fishing magazines from time to time in my office and photos from my hunts just not on display. It is common in our office environment for folks to share photos from recent vacations it just seems that many of mine revolve around my love of hunting. I know of the people I work with who don’t mind seeing dead critters and those who don’t want to see them so I separate the photos out before I share them.
I can say that in my 15 years of working in government agencies I’ve been in a lot of offices and I’ve only seen one big game animal that I can recall and that was a deer head over in and office at Dix State Hospital in Raleigh. That excludes offices of those who work in parks & wildlife because it seems a bit more appropriate there. I’ve seen desk lamps with quail inside the glass and I’ve seen countless fish. Are fish mounts different? The act of fishing seems to be more readily acceptable by society as a whole then hunting. I’m not one to give into PC but on the job I bite my tongue a lot when it comes to politics so I guess this is not much different.
Comment by Moose — December 31, 2007 @ 11:25 am
I actually wrote a post about this issue once. I guess I don’t really see the difference between having a deer head in your office and displaying any other kind of personal item. I don’t see what makes a deer mount or a mounted fish less acceptable than a battery operated pink bunny wearing Mardi Gras beads (this is on my desk at the moment).
I don’t know when hunting became something people had to hide. In my opinion, it is simply another activity that people enjoy like skiing or boating or golf. If it is acceptable to display your golfing trophy why is it less acceptable to display your hunting trophy?
Comment by Kristine Shreve — January 2, 2008 @ 11:20 am