Council Member Miranda Basye said, “With as much memory and as much legacy as I think is really wrapped up into this collection and the story of it being in Sioux Falls, I think the right place for it is with these other institutions that are going to care for it, that are going to give it a long-term life.
The Delbridge Museum of Natural History at the Great Plains Zoo in Sioux Falls closed in August 2023 after testing showed potentially hazardous levels of arsenic present in 80% of the specimens of the Brockhouse Collection.
The move “ensures that none of the collection will be disposed of, and all items will be put to good use by reputable natural history institutions,” Sioux Falls Director of Parks & Recreation Don Kearney told the council.
Crocodiles, monkeys, tigers, zebras and dozens of other taxidermy animals will move to new homes after concerns about arsenic exposure forced the closure of the South Dakota museum where they had been displayed for decades.
Under the deal, 117 specimens will go to the University of Notre Dame Museum of Biodiversity, 33 to the Atlanta-based Oddities Museum Inc., and two to the Institute for Natural History Arts Inc. in New Jersey.
