Shop Owner Gets Death Threats For Selling Dead Puppies In Jars For Valentine’s Day

A specialized taxidermy shop in Sioux Falls has been receiving a lot of hate after publishing a Facebook post advertising the sale of dead puppies preserved in jars for Valentine’s Day.

Jason Haack runs a store called Bonez by Dezign, which sells a number of preserved organic oddities, including a vast array of animals both stuffed with cotton and stuffed in jars. According to USA Today, since Haack posted an ad for dead puppies in jars, he started receiving death threats.

But the shop owner swears it’s all completely ethical and legal. All of the dead puppies he acquires were stillborn. They never made it out of the womb alive, and none of them were killed for the purpose of being sold for Valentine’s Day in a jar. Jason Haack buys the stillborn specimens from various dog breeders.

Haack is also a licensed taxidermist who already sells a multitude of dead and preserved animals, including snakes, bats, kittens and scorpions.

The store owner’s mother Jodie defended her son’s bizarre merchandise, assuring the public that the dead puppies were never anyone’s pet.

“It’s never been somebody’s baby,” she said.

After Jason Haack uploaded images of the dead puppies for the Valentine’s Day ad, many social media users began to accuse Bonez by Dezign of breaking the law.

“Just because somebody doesn’t like it doesn’t mean it’s wrong or illegal,” Haack said in response.

However, according to local news KSFY, the dead puppies are being investigated by the authorities. Sioux Falls Public Information Officer Sam Clemens explained that Animal Control Officers were called to Bonez by Dezign in December to look into the legality of the products.

Advertising the critters as a potential Valentine’s Day gift was not the first time Haack recommended this shocking product as a holiday present. He received the same backlash after promoting the dead puppies in jars as a gift for spoiled children last Christmas. But the taxidermist claims it’s all a joke.

“We take them, preserve them up, and kind of give them a little bit of a life that they didn’t get a chance to have. Somebody can take them, buy them, and appreciate them. I mean, I didn’t expect somebody to come in and buy a puppy In a jar for their little child for Christmas. It was meant as a joke.”

A joke that Jason Haack apparently still thinks is funny even after all the hate mail. His mother has even received threatening phone calls over the dead puppies.

“Some of them were like it’s going to wreck your business,” Jodie Haack said. “Some said ‘I’ll make sure to never go into your shop.’ Some were even ruder than that and there were swear words.”

But selling dead puppies for Valentine’s Day has not done any harm to Haack’s business. His customer demographic includes collectors who enjoy purchasing strange objects and educators who want the preserved animals to teach students about biology.

According to the Argus Leader, Jason Haack has one regular customer named Ashely Nielson who got the idea for collecting dead animals in jars after watching the TV show Oddities. She admitted that some people find her hobby disgusting, but she likes to imagine that she’s giving these stillborn animals the love and attention they didn’t get in life.

“I don’t think people should judge other people’s hobbies and what they like,” Nielson said.

She even showed interest in receiving something like dead puppies in jars for Valentine’s Day.

“That would be better to me than roses or jewelry or anything like that.”

Jason Haack even sold a literal preserved heart for Valentine’s Day.

Would you purchase a jar of dead puppies from Bonez by Dezign for Valentine’s Day?

[Image via Facebook]