Torrington Gopher Hole Museum

Torrington has around two hundred people and opened this museum in 1996 as a way to get travellers to stop. Inside are forty-seven dioramas of taxidermied Richardson's ground squirrels, locally called gophers, dressed and posed in village scenes: a barber, a curling rink, a preacher, a hockey game. The animals are agricultural pests routinely controlled in the district, and the museum's position is that these were going to be killed regardless. It drew protest letters from animal rights groups internationally before it even opened, including a campaign from PETA, and the publicity did more for visitor numbers than anything the village could have arranged.

What you actually see

• The forty-seven dioramas - dressed ground squirrels in village scenes.
• The local humour - scenes of curling, church and hockey in miniature.
• The controversy file - the protest letters displayed by the museum.
• The village - fire hydrants painted as gophers along the street.

When to go

May to September; the museum keeps short seasonal hours and is run by volunteers, so calling ahead is sensible. It takes about twenty minutes.

Honest expectations

It is tiny and the visit is short. The taxidermy upsets some visitors, which the museum does not hide from. Opening hours are irregular and depend on volunteers.

Nearby

Three Hills lies southeast; Drumheller is south.