its midafternoon and shery has been resting quietly by the living room window her paws extended and a sideward gaze her master walks in fills her bowl with milk and strokes her smoky fur as gentle notes of piano waft through the room all day shery refuses to stir or blinkshe isnt being lazy its been two years since the german shepherd has been sitting obediently comfortably stretched out where she once roamed free shery is frozen in time after her master santosh sharma an exarmy man could not bear to part with his companion when she stopped breathing my wife left me because i loved shery more than anyone sherys departure was torturous for me said sharma turning mistyeyed recounting that morning frantic calls to doctors and specialists later sharma learnt that he may not have to let go of his fourlegged friend after all i rushed shery to a taxidermist he said in three months shery was back where she belonged i greet her everyday talk to her when im lonely everythings the same just that she cannot respond or run after memove over norman bates and his macabre hobby in hitchcocks psycho that earned taxidermy its notorious reputation sharma is one of many grieving pet owners in the city seeking out services of a taxidermist to save their beloved furry feathered and scaly friends from the grave what was once the preserve of game hunters and museum curators is now helping pet parents cope with loss and be with their dead pets like nothing happened to them even if that means they lie in repose resting in a corner of a room mounted on a wall or displayed like artifact the art of taxidermy leaves them looking much as they did in lifetaxidermy is a multidisciplinary art of preserving an animal that combines cobbler art sculpture painting carpentry and anatomy explains santosh gaikwad a selftaught taxidermist and the only one in the country who runs a wildlife taxidermy centre at the sanjay gandhi national parka siberian tiger black bear and elephant head are among his prized works but the challenge of putting signs of life into pet animals can be disquieting feels gaikwad its a complex emotional area for owners its like losing a child or sibling they come with high expectationssushmita mallik of lokhandwala agrees for her it was about giving bruno her pet alsatian a second lease of life and you cant go wrong were not talking about a garment or furniture here bruno was our second child she saysthe wildlife taxidermist who has prepared nearly 40 pets in the last four years dogs parrots macaws cockatoos fish and even a goat remembers when his first pet came calling karamchand an eightfoot ostrich lovingly named after gandhi in the arms of a businessman from alibagthe dining table and refrigerator at his jogeshwari home turned into a reclamation zone for dead animals as more pet owners turned up at his doorbe it prakash pohare from