"Memory Of The Hunt": New York City's Oldest Taxidermy Business

The 62-year-old’s vast collection includes the 600lb bear, 100-year-old goat and the $12,000 lion.

The Cypress Hills Taxidermy Studio owner can charge anywhere from $400 for a deer to $2,000 for a full bear that normally takes up to a year to finish.

John Youngaitis said: “Taxidermy is the memory of the hunt.

“You go to somebody’s house and look on the wall and say, ‘that’s a nice deer head’. He’ll tell you the day, the weather and the time.

“It brings back the whole memory of the hunt.

“There’s no cruelty. Everything in nature has to be harvested. You get the deer; you get 60 pounds of meat out of the deer - so nothing is wasted.

“The trophy is the end result.”

Not only has John received requests to stuff animals, he has even had requests about stuffing a human body.

John said: “Some requests are pranks but some are real. Some people take it as legitimate to do.

“Me and my father used to talk about it. What if you could do a person would you do it? I mean animals are one thing. I dig animals, but people? I don’t know.”

“I had this lady who called crying and I thought it had to be a pet because she said Shih Tzu.

“And I thought Shih Tzu was her dog but she said, ‘no my sister.’”

John may be the last taxidermist in New York but he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

John said, “My father worked right up till he died at 79 years old. I can keep doing it, I’ll do it until the end.”