Some might prefer, say, a dead puppy preserved in a jar.
Jason Haack, owner of Bonez by Dezign Custom Lamps and
More, in Sioux Falls, S.D., said the romance-themed weekend brought several
customers into his Sioux Falls oddities shop.
"You've got to have a little bit of a morbid side to
you," Haack said, as he sat in the corner of his shop between a shelf of
bones and a wall of taxidermied animals.
The business started in the back room of his mother's
flower shop and has expanded to the front room with a section of collectibles
for sale in one area of the shop.
Haack sells various animal bones, skulls and skeletons. He
also has a shelf of wet specimens, meaning animals preserved in jars.
That's where the puppies are kept, in jars that look like
in another life they could have held jam.
The puppies come from different breeders. They are all
stillborn. None of them lived outside the womb, and none of them were killed
for purposes of making collectors items.
"It's never been somebody's baby," Haack's mother
Jodie Haack said.
But Haack has seen his fair share of criticism. When he
posted a picture on Facebook of the puppies in jars, he received death threats,
his mother said.
He saw another wave of criticism on social media after he
posted a Valentine's ad for the puppies. Some commenters raised question as to
the legality of Haack's operation.
It's all legal, though, Haack said.
"Just because somebody doesn't like it doesn't mean
it's wrong or illegal," Haack said.
Customer Ashely Nielson became interested in collecting wet
specimens after seeing the TV show "Oddities." She has purchased a
puppy, a kitten, a bat and a scorpion from Haack's shop.
She's also heard people call her hobby "weird" or
"gross," but she replies, "To each their own."
"I don't think people should judge other people's
hobbies and what they like," Nielson said.
Nielson views her collection as a chance to give love and
attention to these animals who never had a chance at life.
She said she would love to receive a wet specimen for
Valentine's Day.
"That would be better to me than roses or jewelry or
anything like that."
Jason Haack is the owner of Bonez By Dezign in Sioux Falls,
S.D., Monday, Feb. 15, 2016. Haack buys, sells and trades unidque and odd
items.
A puppy is preserved in a jar at Bonez By Dezign in Sioux
Falls, S.D., Monday, Feb. 15, 2016. The puppy was stillborn.
Carson Damiata, 14, shows a snake, puppy and calf preserved
in a jar at Bonez By Dezign in Sioux Falls, S.D., Monday, Feb. 15, 2016.
A snake is preserved in a jar at Bonez By Dezign in Sioux
Falls, S.D., Monday, Feb. 15, 2016.
Carson Damiata, 14, shows various animals bones, skulls and
skeletons for sale at Bonez By Dezign in Sioux Falls, S.D., Monday, Feb. 15,
2016.
Bonez By Dezign buys, sells and trades unidque and odd
items in Sioux Falls, S.D., Monday, Feb. 15, 2016.
Carson Damiata, 14, shows a skull from 1895 at Bonez By
Dezign in Sioux Falls, S.D., Monday, Feb. 15, 2016.
A zebra lamp at Bonez By Dezign in Sioux Falls, S.D.,
Monday, Feb. 15, 2016.
