Lauren Kane first experienced the desert as a kid, with
family trips to the Pioneertown ranch of family friends. Growing up
only an hour away from Joshua Tree there were also frequent family
day trips to Joshua Tree Natioanl Park.
Though there were also family trips to Los Angeles and
Palm Springs, the hi – desert became home, a place Lauren felt
drawn to. Lauren continued those trips with her then boyfriend/now
husband, taking their first camping trip together in the national
park almost 12 years ago.
When
they started looking for a place to make their own home, they knew
the only way they'd be able to move to the hi-desert hinged on
Lauren’s husband finding a job in the low desert. As is sometimes
does, desert magic took over and as soon as they began looking for
a house a job opened up for him, making the move
possible.
Lauren’s business, Precious Creature, involves a
gentle, loving practice of preserving the memory of a beloved pet
through the process of taxidermy.
Lauren is no stranger to working in the death business.
Just after high school, thinking she wanted to be an embalmer or
funeral director, Lauren had an opportunity to work in a funeral
home, While there she found herself subjected to some stodgy ideas
and misogynistic attitudes which got her thinking, ‘maybe this
isn’t what I want to do'.
While
volunteering at the San Bernardino County Natural History museum,
Lauren became interested in taxidermy. A museum co-worker intimated
she had preserved one of the owls on display. Lauren became
completely entranced. She picked up a book to study taxidermy and
began collecting the supplies required to get started. While the
rest of her family wasn't so sure about the taxidermy route, Lauren
is grateful to her grandfather for not only supporting her in this
journey, but for offering his garage as a workshop and his freezer
to store Lauren's first attempt: a bird.
Through this process, Lauren remembered her favorite
part of the funeral home job was helping the grieving families.
With a sense that she wanted to work in death care, she had the
idea that she could offer taxidermy as a service to grieving pet
owners.
In
this episode, Lauren opens up about her anxiety around the
mortality and the death experience and believes her lifelong
fascination and interest in what comes after life has inspired her
to do this work.
If
you’re interested in taxidermy for your pet, Lauren offers
information about how to prepare your pet for this process. And
some comforting was to make the preparation easier on yourself.
Lauren also walks us through a high-level description of the
process that happens once a pet is delivered to Lauren through
completed taxidermy.
Visit
Lauren's website for more information:
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follow her on Instagram: