Animal Attic efforts applauded

The Otago Museum collections and facilities teams completed a "huge piece of work" in the museum’s Animal Attic in May and last month, museum director Dr Ian Griffin said.

The popular Victorian-inspired gallery was closed to the public throughout May and reopened in mid-June after "important improvements" were made, "both to the building itself and the specimens on display", museum organisers said.

Dr Griffin said the work had included improving lighting and pest control in the  gallery, and every display specimen had been frozen in a deep freeze as a pest-control measure.

He paid tribute to the "extraordinary efforts" of museum staff and, in a report to a recent Otago Museum Trust Board meeting, he said staff had the gallery "fully up and functional" in time for a pre-booked wedding in June.