Sotheby’s to sell drowned animals from private zoo

By our zoology correspondent 
Marjorie Scuba-Diva

In a rare departure from their usual fine art business, Sotheby’s is to sell the waterlogged bodies of a number of drowned animals at a London auction in September. 

The sale is likely to make countless millions for its owner, Gloucestershire-based celebrity taxidermist Damien Hearse.

The animals, including a zebra, a unicorn, an elephant (above right), a herd of cattle and a budgerigar, all drowned after they fell in to their owner’s swimming-pool in the grounds of his luxury mansion in the Cotswolds.

‘Animals are always getting pissed and falling into swimming-pools round here,’ said one village local, Wurzel Dunphy, ‘but these rare golden-hoofed breeds have a certain cachet among credulous millionaires.’

‘The drowned animal market is enormously strong,’ said Sotheby’s marine auction expert Tobias Bonkers. ‘We should have seen a correction by now, but many corporate collectors seem to want a marinated mammal in their entrance hall and so there’s still a lot of capacity in the market.’

Marjorie Scuba-Diva

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