SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) -- Dorothy Callahan was disappointed in a work group's recommendation to donate 117 specimen from the Brockhouse Collection to the biodiversity museum at the University of Notre Dame. "If they are good enough for Notre Dame, they are good enough for the city of Sioux Falls," Callahan said after Friday's meeting of the task force assigned to determine a future use and home for about 150 taxidermy animals in the Brockhouse Collection. Taking a look at current snow numbers The animals had been on display in the Delbridge Museum at the Great Plains Zoo after C.J. Delbridge donated them in 1984. Delbridge had bought the collection on auction in 1981. When arsenic was detected in most of them, the museum was closed in August of 2023. "This collection belongs here," Callahan said. The zoo would have room for an aquarium and the Brockhouse Collection, she said. But after more than eight months of research and investigation, the work group determined the best home for the animals was in South Bend, Indiana, and two other non-profits and not in Sioux Falls. The task force's recommendation will go to the city council at its Feb. 4 informational meeting and for potential action at a later meeting. The task force said Friday was its final meeting. Work group member and council member Rich Merkouris said during the meeting the city has to determine the fate of the animals while the zoo has to consider the best use of its resources. The zoo has merged with the Butterfly House and Aquarium and there is a vision for those, Merkouris said. The city owns the Brockhouse collection and it must determine how best to invest or preserve that asset, Merkouris said in support of the recommendation to donate the animals. Consultants have estimated it would cost about $847,000 to restore the specimen eligible for restoration. It would cost an estimated $4.6 million to construct a new building to properly display the specimen. The zoo needs to be good stewards of its resources, director Becky Dewitz said in an interview after the meeting. The zoo's mission and priority is living animals and their welfare, Dewitz said. Several who spoke against donating the animals to non-profits said there should have been more time to raise money or to consider different options. "Nobody in Sioux Falls came forward," said work group member Jeanette Lust. Dewitz said possible options, including those in the state, were contacted. "I think we found the best solution," Lust said. "It's the right thing to do," work group member Jeff Scherschligt said of donating the bulk of the animals to the Museum of Biodiversity at Notre Dame. "It's an institution that is going to take care of it." Dewitz said in an interview after the meeting that she has been in regular contact with one of the daughters of C.J. Delbridge. The family will have a letter supporting the work group's recommendation. "For me, it's very important to have (that support)," Dewitz said. Notre Dame would take 117 animals. The Oddities Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, would take 33 items and the Institute for Natural History Arts in Woodland Park, New Jersey, would take two animals. Proposals from all three non-profits were available at Friday's meeting. The Notre Dame proposal said the items would be removed from storage at the zoo in late May or early June. The non-profits will be responsible for paying the removal and transportation costs to move the specimen to their new home.