DLD| Lauren Kane |Ep 148

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: http://www.preciouscreaturetaxidermy.com/ Or follow her on Instagram: @preciouscreature