Stuffed dog found for festival

Stuffed dog found for festival

The Nelson Arts Festival has found the stuffed dog needed as a prop in the Australian dance show Blue Love that stages at the Suter Theatre next month.

The call went out for a stuffed German Shepherd earlier this week - in an appeal that got legs - the story went nationwide, featured on TV and was widely read on the internet.

Arts Festival technical director Antony Hodgson says he heard about a stuffed police dog in a museum, came close to tracking one at the Blenheim dump and followed a lead from a taxidermist who had stuffed a dog 12 years ago - but found the owners had dumped it when it became fly blown.

"Then I got a call from Pauleen Wilkinson, a Nelsonian living in Rotorua, who had shown the story about the stuffed dog hunt to 89 year old Mrs Winifred Flood," he said. "Mrs Flood had a pet Alsatian called Norman that she brought out from England after he had died and been stuffed - she's very excited about Norman going on stage in the Nelson Arts Festival."

Norman will travel to Nelson by courier in time for the first performance of Blue Love in late October, and will be returned to Mrs Flood accompanied by flowers and a box of chocolates.

Cosmic late night footnote - Annabel Norman, the director of the Nelson Arts Festival is not related to the stuffed dog.

Www.nelsonartsfestival.co.nz

ENDS

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