Donors Scrap Contentious Plan for Museum of Hunting Trophies

A California couple have abandoned years-long plans to create a $15-million museum that was to have showcased their collection of mounted exotic animals they hunted, reports The Sacramento Bee.

Philanthropists Paul and Renee Snider first proposed building a natural history museum for their hunting trophies seven years ago at the Sacramento campus of California State University, then shifted to a plan to expand the city’s California Automobile Museum to accommodate the animal displays along with the automobile collection. Both proposals drew protests from animal advocates.

In a press release Saturday the Sniders said they were scrapping the large-scale project and would instead donate $1-million to the existing automotive museum, which officials said is badly in need of basic repairs. Mr. Snider, a former car dealer, said the couple “needed to move on.”