Black rhino head found in Doncaster Council store room a 'security risk'

A council has handed over the head of a rare black rhino to a museum after deeming it a potential "security risk".

The stuffed head was discovered in storage at Doncaster Council, along with a beetle collection.

Officers within the heritage department said they had no links to Doncaster, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The specimen is "particularly valued", having been mounted by 19th century taxidermist Rowland Ward, the council said.

With rhinoceros horns prized in Chinese medicine, there have been cases of rhino heads in museums being vandalised for their horns.

There have been cases involving "violence to staff members", officers said.

Staff said they "do not feel that we can care for such a valuable object" which does not "have a Doncaster provenance".

Documents show that the beetle collection was likely given to the borough from the Natural History Museum and never returned.

The longhorn beetle collection consists of around 7,000 species and the collection is said to be internationally important.

Laura Trinogga, from Doncaster Museum, said: "Having contacted the Natural Sciences Collections Association, we were advised that Leeds Museums and Galleries would like to have the rhino head as part of their collection.

"It is currently on loan to them pending the transfer of ownership.

"Following an externally funded collections review, it was recommended by a former entomology curator at the Natural History Museum that the NHM could take the beetle collection on and look after it to a higher standard, as well as making it accessible to researchers.

"It is also likely that a proportion of the collection came from The Natural History Museum originally and the material was never returned."