Swizzle sticks, earrings, and more!
The idea of reindeer sausage might be a little bit mind-blowing to some people, but it's nothing compared to this little nugget of amazing: in Alaska, you can buy souvenirs made with moose poop. I don't know what insanity first prompted someone to shellac some moose poop and try to make a gag gift out of it. All I can say is, Alaskans are resourceful, and sometimes you have to work with what you've got.
Moose poop is a common find anywhere in Alaska that isn't actually paved. Moose are everywhere, and hundreds reside within the Anchorage bowl alone. You can find piles of moose poop in your yard, at the park, or on a nice stroll around the lake.
Biologically speaking, moose are basically very large goats. If you have ever seen goat or rabbit poop, you know that it comes out in a big pile of pellets. In the case of moose, these pellets are about the size of the first joint of your thumb. Moose are very economical feeders, unlike cows and horses who emit big smelly piles of sloppy stuff, moose poops are small dry nuggets, almost like compressed pellets of sawdust.
Combine that with Alaska's cold dry climate, and you have a product that doesn't degrade. It's just lying out there in giant piles all over the place, free for the taking. Is I guess the thought process. I don't really know.
Someone along the line decided it would be pretty funny to shellac a moose nugget and stick it on a swizzle stick. Oh and you can make earrings. And necklaces. One of those weather forecasters (if the poop is wet, it's raining out, etc)! How about embedding it inside a block of soap? Or just bagging it up and calling it the "Alaska State Turd."
I guess once you start thinking about making crafts out of wild animal poop, the sky's the limit.
Needless to say, I thought this stuff was hilarious when I was about eight years old. I remember a Christmas where I gave everyone moose poop gifts. I bet they thought I was the worst kid ever. (They weren't wrong.)
Of course, I was eight back in the 1980s. I was surprised to discover that you can still buy this stuff today, some thirty years later. That is a pretty strong local cottage industry, if you think about it. Maybe other states should turn their wildlife poop into souvenir gifts, too.