I'm 29 & I Taxidermy Animals For A Living | Refinery29 

Do you have any experience in taxidermy? Share with us here!

This video contains: • Dissecting, skinning and cutting of dead animals • Discussion of how the animals were killed • Discussion of what people know about taxidermy • Discussion about their limbs falling off • Laughing at the dead animals • Pulling off of animal parts • Showing of multiple stuffed animals • Sticking of pins into dead animals PLEASE LIKE THIS SO PEOPLE CAN KNOW IF THEY WANT TO WATCH THIS I have edited this comment while watching the video

The interviewer didn’t seem interested, she seemed uncomfortable and cringing in some moments. Choose your interviewers right.

Why choose an interviewer that does not seem interested in what she's doing? There were a lot of times she was cringing.

It’s so uncomfortable seeing her doing that without gloves

She seems like a really kind person! As a future biologist, I can only admire that she's a taxidermist. Giving dead animals a second life or preserving them for science is really great. I get that people get upset about this, but I don't see any negativity in doing this if you do it with respect and as long as the animals died of a natural cause.

I liked the video and Mickey seems like a really nice girl but the interviewer didn’t seem respectful and wasn’t my cup of tea

This isn't my cup of tea but her passion for taxidermy is inspiring

As someone who does taxidermy all the terrified comments confuse me. Also the interviewer isn’t very friendly.

She peeled that rat like a fruit roll up

Everyone in the coments is freaking out, yall clicked on a video about taxidermy-

"No animals were made hurt in the making of this film"- Yeah cause they are all dead!

The reason she’s doing this is really pure and sweet. Personally I wouldn’t do this but it’s nice she isn’t afraid of doing this.

I feel like they purposely framed this to give the taxidermists a creepy vibe instead of just presenting their stories. That kinda, ya know, sucks. Jeez.

I love when these badass, gorgeous and talented women go into a male dominated field and absolutely kill it! She really reminds me of my best friend who would literally pull over to pick up roadkill and taxidermy it. Everyone judged her so much and thought she was creepy but I knew her and she had such a love for animals it continued after they died and how many of us self proclaimed animal lovers can say that? Not me! She took her own life last year and I miss her every single day. Rest easy Lexi ❤️ I love you babygirl.

I may never want to become a Taxidermist, but I can appreciate wanting memories to hold onto and if people relate better to those memories through taxidermy then I would say by all means. Even though this video was a bit taboo due to how our society thinks it was important to watch and it offered a appreciation for such craft. Thank you Refinery29

From the reactions, I'm guessing a lot of you have never been to the Natural History Museum.

I'm 16 and I've always LOVED taxidermy, I definitely want to try it with my rats when they die, as a way to always keep them close :)💕💕

idk why i chose to watch this while I eat

They probably should have used a warning, but it was fascinating overall.

The host's face when she squashed the baby rat...classic 😂😂😂

Ah! So glad to see these topics talked about there’s so much controversy around it. Awesome job !

The way her voice changes at the near end as she talks about taking care of dying kittens made me think twice and acknowledge she's not weird after all.

Oh my. This is tough to watch, no hate, just not for me.

Aww this girl is the sweetest!!! I want to take her classes now!

You can tell she really loves these animals and she wouldn’t harm any of them. People will allow their loved ones to be embalmed and shown in a Wake once they’ve passed and I believe this is what this girl is doing as. She wants to take a horrible and sad situation and make it beautiful and she does her art to ensure these animals’ lives and remembered and she gives them a purpose even after they are gone. She knows that her art can really help others deal with grief, she allows them to see death as something more than just an end to a life and for people to attack her for this makes no sense and the commenters saying evil things, they are the real monsters for not respecting her work and her art. I 100% believe what she does is ethical and amazing. If something is not for you, then it’s not for YOU. Don’t do it, don’t watch it, but leave artists alone because if it’s not for you it’s for someone who can find the beauty in it and enjoy it.

The way she peeled that rat was more smooth than me trying to peel a mandarin 😂 😂 😂

I understand the loss of such a small creature after feeding them for day’s hoping it would live. He died and it was heartbreaking his name is Bravo. For this person to then decide to taxidermy the kittens she personally cared for is brave and beautiful at the same time. When she got emotional talking about holding and feeding those kittens and they passed away, I understand the pain. I shed a tear when she got emotional about it. My Bravo was a kitten.

The way my mouth dropped open sklskskk I was not expecting the full on rat in the beginning

This was cool to watch I used to dissect things in lab so this wasn’t very gory for me. I’ve always wondered about those who do taxidermy and how they got into it 🤔 so this was a great watch 😊. She looks really happy while doing taxidermy and that was nice to see

I didn't know Kendall Jenner was into taxidermy

I was just not ready to see that first 29 seconds while eating a cookie

Forever love watching Mickey work!

I really love this😍I hope I can take one of her classes one day! I have a lot of animal skulls (dog/cat /coyote/fox ect) and wearable tails but I do hope to do what she does and re create a new lives for the animals and it can have a great way to express one’s personality.shes so lucky to have full specimens 😂

It's a extremely heartbreaking experience to have an animal die in your hands, you can literally feel the life vanishing into thin air. It feels as if it descends from the top to bottom, in a vibrating, ring movement and then all of a sudden, emptiness and serenity followed by a rather large dose of sadness and despair. The only thing that helps is, knowing that these creatures didn't have to die alone. Some animals prefer to die alone, that is also difficult to accept but it has to be respected. I sincerely enjoyed every second of this Video, Thank you for sharing this. 🙂❤

So no one is going to point out that this video was posted a few years ago. Such a smart way to make sure everyone watches the video though 🤔

I don’t like how the guy at the taxidermy shop called Mickey “ a budding taxidermist” like sis.... she teaches other people how to taxidermy don’t talk down to her like that..

Gurl.. not without protective gloves touching dead animals.

"But, without understanding the context behind something, you don't get it." 🤍

I'm disappointed that they focused so heavily on gender and age. I would have accepted a little more info about the process of taxidermy, like whats too dead to stuff?. How do they keep the fur from falling apart?.

the bangs told me what i needed to know

This was so interesting! I love her passion for her work.

I love taxidermy so much! it's important to scientists as preservation of specimens while being a beautiful art that helps bring a second life to animals. ive recently been considering going into taxidermy myself :)

I am really grossed out but its so intersting to watch

This is oddly fascinating.

I have so much respect for this industry after watching this video! It was super interesting. I just have one question, is it not a required rule to wear gloves in the taxidermy profession? For the protection of the person performing the service. I’ve seen a lot of gloveless hands, long nails and jewelry. I just figured a lot of animals carry diseases. No judgment just genuinely curious ☺️

Great video Refinery! Something I've always wanted to try!!

This was fascinating! I so love the craftsmanship in this work and the little clothes and poses that the female taxidermist uses are completely charming. I’m not sure it is something I would want to do, but I respect that it is a craft unto itself.

This is soo fascinating! I'd love to take one of her classes

Besides all the hate comments and people who should have read the title, don't stop uploading stuff like this. This was entertaining, and who says this channel has to be just one thing?

You can rlly see the passion of mickey for taxidermy and i truly respect that, she does a job most people are disgusted by {i dont mean to offend anybody}

I used to babysit for a taxidermist many years ago when I was 16, he had animals that he shouldn't have, I remember him telling me. I always remember he had a bisons head

Omg. I would be terrified to try this, her work is beautiful

I loved this so much! I really would love to take a taxidermy class one day

My friend and I are planning on learning taxidermy together oneday so watching these videos give me more passion

I love the way this is edited! It reminds me of a Wes Anderson film.

“Watch your head and mine too” 😭

I remember how we used to dissect a dead puppy for our Biology Class. It's a thrilling and traumatizing experience at the same time.

I see this as a educational video and I actually am happy to watch this video

What a conversation piece it will be when someone spots a dead rat dressed with an Afro on the coffee table 😂💀

Oh wow. This gets me in the feels. I rescued a pregnant cat who turned out to have feline leukemia virus and passed it to her kittens, all of whom passed away at 1.5 to 2 years old

This was really cool to watch.

the last part where she talked abt taking care of the kittens before they died rlly hits me because I've been in the same shoes. sometimes in july-august 2019 someone dumped 5 premature kittens at the back of my house. they weren't even the premature kittens you'd find if you googled 'premature kittens'. they were even younger.. i knew they weren't gonna live long but me and my siblings did our best to take care of them. after the 4 died and i burried them all, we were left with one kitten. it actually died in my hands while i was watching Moana. ever since I haven't associated that movie with good memories. or even those diy warming pads made out of rice and a sock, they just remind me of all 5 dead kittens

This! This is beautiful.

Bach's *Jesus Bleibet Meine Freude* at the beginning of the video sprinkled a really enchanting effect throughout the rest of the vid.

What a great video to watch while having lunch

what they do is pretty cool but the process had me shooketh

Clicked on the video because I was curious but definitely not something I'd like to partake in due to my fear of all animals dead and alive but it is truly fascinating and amazing to see these animals looking so life like again.

I am disturbed and amazed at the same time 🤯

i adore and respect her so much

Your passion comes through, especially when talking about the kittens

My question is how did the taxidermy find the dead animals?

This is so interesting!!

Came to the comments and found exactly what I thought I’d find. A bunch of people creeped out lol

omg that was just... i cant even explain how it was

So nobody bout to talk about them bangs

Yall should've let me interview her. I absolutely love taxidermy

Amazing job

wowowowwowo i love this pretty soon i will start doing taxidermy my self tooo!

Nice work i really wanna learn it

I don't understand why but this video was really beautiful

taxidermy is one of the most interesting things ever to happen in history istg

Omg I was cracking up when the interviewer added a afro to her critter she created

You can tell not a lot of people in these comments grew up hunting, once you’ve skinned enough deer rabbit and squirrels it doesn’t bother you as much lol.

Fascinating.

I think this is so cool!

I love this girls passion. Taxidermy is a passion it's not gross

Is beauty to transform it but I wouldn't try do taxidermy

Ordinary people: perfectly and safetly burried their loving dead pet baby animals. Taxidermist: let u live again my dear animals... just lemme put out my materials..

im doing my first ever taxidermy project tomorrow! i'm really excited for it, but i'm bad at sleeping ahah

God I love her bangs and hair

Honestly this made me *cry* ..

This video needs to get more views. It talks about art and it’s beautiful!

'No animals were harmed' except the fact that many of the animals shown have been hunted...

Good for her that she is passionate about it but like I would never be able do that...Just the thought that those were alive I would legit start crying and not stop for like a week...

The interviewer is an actress. She’s the main character for an HBO show called The Baby

In 8th grade we had to take quizez online to see the perfect career for us and i got taxidermy. Not once but 4 times!

love!!

RU-vid recommended this. I didn’t search for it😐

If y’all like taxidermy and weird fiction, you should read Kristen Arnett’s “Mostly Dead Things.”