Pole Dancer Who Quit Her Job For Mouse Taxidermy Divides Opinion

A former pole dancer’s nifty taxidermy creations have divided opinion, with people hitting out at her and claiming her work is ‘disrespectful’.

38-year-old Katie Hardwick appeared on This Morning on Friday (27 May) to show off her creations – which feature stuffed white mice dancing around poles and singing into microphones – and viewers weren’t exactly over the moon.

Now a full-time taxidermist, Hardwick claims she makes an eye-watering £100,000 a year selling dead mice, so she’s likely not fussed that one person branded her career choice ‘a bit weird’ on Twitter.

Disgruntled Twitter users were quick to criticise Hardwick following her appearance on This Morning, during which she explained to hosts Alison Hammond and Craig Doyle that she sacked off pole dancing for taxidermy after having kids.

One wrote: “Not sure I would be smiling looking at a dead mouse hanging off a pole, prefer to watch a live one running around tbh.”

Another added: “White mice taxidermy. One reason why this planet is in such a mess.”

Others were fans of Hardwick’s work, with one person tweeting: “Buy me the taxidermy stripper mouse or you don’t love me.”

Another gleefully tweeted: “I actually love these mice. They are already dead when she gets them, they are bred, killed and frozen for snakes to eat! So she isn’t physically killing them for this!"

Earlier this month, Hardwick spoke to The Sun about her work, saying: “People love it or hate it and I get a lot of angry vegans on my case. Some people have told me that this mouse didn't die just to be immortalised as a stripper!”

She added: "It's all just a bit of fun – it would be a very different practice if I was working with a rare elephant's head.

"All of my mice are purchased from the Pet Shop as they are sold as reptile food – they are already dead and frozen."

Hardwick first tried her hand at taxidermy five years ago when her husband bought her a 'Taxidermy Your First Mouse kit' for Christmas – so romantic! 

The doting mum taught herself the basics and started selling her creations online, having now sold more than 3,400 pieces on Etsy alone. 

Hardwick explained that her first step is to defrost the mice and take their skins off. She then gets rid of bacteria by giving them a borax treatment and starts shaping the legs and arms using wire.

All of her work is carried out on her kitchen table, something Hardwick admitted her husband finds ‘disgusting’.