Calif. Science Museum Cancels Controversial Fossil Auction

The San Diego Natural History Museum has called off a planned sale of a dozen historic dinosaur fossils to private bidders following a barrage of criticism from scientists, U-T San Diego and the San Francisco Chronicle write.

News of the auction, which had been set to take place Tuesday in New York, drew a stinging rebuke from the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology and offers from other museums to buy the collection, valued at $15-million. In light of the interest from other institutions, “we will be reevaluating how to proceed,” the San Diego museum said Monday.

Museum officials said the auction was not initiated “for financial gain” but because the institution wants to focus on “scientifically important fossils from our region.” The items set for sale had been found in Wyoming, Kansas, and other areas outside Southern California. Paleontologists oppose the sale of important fossils to private collectors because it makes them inaccessible to the public and to researchers.