Gopher Hole Museum of Alberta, Canada

In Alberta, Canada is a small hamlet called Torrington. It has a population of 200 or so and would normally not even be a blip on anyone’s radar, except for their one little claim to fame. It’s a place called the Gopher Hole Museum. The owners say that the Gopher Hole Museum is “world famous” and we believe it. Would they lie?

The museum features dioramas populated with gophers who are stuffed, and no, we don’t mean they ate too much. These gophers have long since left this world, but now they are immortalized on display for your enjoyment, which only costs a measly $2.

The gophers (also known as Richardson ground squirrels, which aren’t the “true” gophers but close enough) are posed in different scenes and represent different roles, like mountie, hair dresser, priest, clown, hunter, etc. Background murals are painted by Alberta artist Shelley Haase.

The museum opened in 1996, and got a lot of press once PETA found out about it. The residents of Torrington don’t mind. In town there’s a 12′ statue of a gopher in overalls. Fire hydrants also have gophers painted on them. Apparently gophers are a huge menace to farmers in this little village – perhaps they could use the services of Carl Spackler, who has a license to kill gophers, by the government of the United Nations.

The Gopher Hole Museum is located north of Calgary, on highway #27. The address is: 208 1 Street South, Torrington, AB T0M 2B0, Canada. Phone: +1 403-631-2139. Hours: daily from 10am to 5pm. Admission: $2 for adults.

Sources: Road Trip America

Thanks to Brie for the link!