The skunk is dead....

[Flybye]

Wow, did I open up a can of worms or what?

I am a country girl and have grown up around skunks my entire life. They are pests and they are wretched. They have no natural predators and therefore are overpoplulated. They do carry rabies and they do spray easily. Maybe the ones on Myth Busters were more accustomed to living with people and maybe the ones in the camprgound were accustomed to this as well. The ones that I have been around aren't.

They spray up to 10 feet. It is wretched. It can send you to the hospital it is so awful. I know two people who have gone to the hospital for that. I have had one dog that was sprayed 10 times. My neighbor that shot the skunk? Sprayed twice. Did you know that the spray of a skunk can make unopened food - crackers - taste like the spray of a skunk? It isn't a nose thing, either. The crackers that I am referring to were 3 months old and unopened. Barf. Did you know that the smell can linger in your car for up to 6 months after a near proximity spraying? We had a car growing up and MAN was it awful to ride in. Did you know that tomato juice really doesn't work? I do because I have bathed the dog that got sprayed with it numerous times.

This is not the first time that I have been around a skunk that we have shot, in fact, it is about the 11th time. Now hold your horses - I also fish and eat them. I like hunting. I also smack mosquitoes when they land on me. Horse flies too. I also set out DCon to kill the mice at my house. I eat chicken.

My point? Everything does have a place on the planet. Including US!!! I am not an awful person because I do these things. You aren't perfect because you don't. There isn't ONE right way to do things. You are entitled to your opinion on this matter as am I.

It didn't bring great joy for us to pop off a skunk , (and also I am not going to throw a funeral for it) - but it is a relief to know that it won't be lurking out there when I let my dog out - or when the kids do on accident. It is also a relief to know that I won't be getting sprayed next time I mow the lawn. They are creatures of habit and do tend to return to the same place to "nest".

Thanks for all of your opinions. I don't feel at all bad for what I did. Life in the Western rural setting is perhaps a bit different than the rest of the world. Just remember, there are many opinions and no ONE right way.

[mimitabby]

Flybye you fish and eat skunks? Eyewwww

where i grew up skunks got hit by cars frequently, so their aroma was always present... now when i smell one (from afar) I get quite a feeling of nostalgia from the smell.

[spokewench]

We had a family of skunks living under our shed for quite a few years. They never bothered me and I never bothered them. My cats both got skunked once when we first moved to Flag (where they encountered their first skunks). After that, never happened again. Again, the reason "Cats are way smarter than dogs!" Dogs will get skunked over and over. They just can't resist!

And, I will admit everyone has their own opinions about pests, but Skunks are not on that list for me.

spoke

[DDH]

Flybye, your right tomatoe juice doesn't work, neither does vinegar and believe it or not I have tried the douce thing too. I live in TX in the country and we have an abundance of them too. My dogs have been sprayed and nothing gets it out. You can cut the smell down some with these items but it is a matter of mostly letting it wear off. Then everytime the dogs get wet again, the smell comes right back out. I have tried all those items plus a few of the over the counter items and they don't work either.

As far as shooting the animal, it's like anything else, some agree and some don't.
We had coyotes crossing our pasture about a month ago in broad daylight and these are not animals that come out in the daytime hours in populated area's normally so it was a little un-nerving and if my husband could have gotten the rifle out in time to shoot them he would have. Do I like it, no, but I have domestic animals and I have a 12 year old child, and if they are getting so bold as to come out in the daytime in a populated area, then they are a danger.
I believe that a skunk that would come out in broad day light is sick or rabid and I don't think I would have taken a chance to have left it either.


I eat meat, and I hunt, but it doesn't make me any less of an advid animal lover, point being I understand where you are coming from.

[SadieKate]

We had coyotes crossing our pasture about a month ago in broad daylight and these are not animals that come out in the daytime hours in populated area's normally . . . .

Guess you haven't spent much time in California, have you? American River Parkway, Mt. Diablo, ALL of Southern California, etc. These are animals that have become very used to humans and live very successfully in the urban setting.

[DDH]

Guess you haven't spent much time in California, have you? American River Parkway, Mt. Diablo, ALL of Southern California, etc. These are animals that have become very used to humans and live very successfully in the urban setting.

No ma'am, I haven't been to California. I hope to go there some time in the near future, I have a friend I want to meet really badly in Southern Calif.

[SadieKate]

OMG! She called me ma'am! You must be from Texas?!

Being half-Texan on my father's side I can say that. Ma'am isn't heard very often in these parts.

[DDH]

LMAO, I am cracking up here!!! Sorry, it just came natural for me, Kinda like saying howdy, instead of hello.

[Veronica]

. They are pests and they are wretched. They have no natural predators and therefore are overpopulated.

Sounds like humans to me.

I think smoking should be against the law at National Parks. It's gross to see cigarette butts on the ground anywhere... but at Crater Lake... geez.

We have skunks, raccoons and feral cats in our backyard. It's always interesting to watch how they interact.

V.

[mimitabby]

Sounds like humans to me.

exactly. pave the forest and put in another wallmart dang. those critters. they should go back where they came from! oh.. we are where they came from

[Veronica]

You know I absolutely refuse to shop at Walmart. You can't shop at Walmart and simultaneously lament the loss of the middle class in America. In order to get such cheap prices, they force manufacturing to go overseas.

V.

[nicole309]

When I lived in Michigan my boyfriend and I were driving through the neighborhood on a very hot day. We saw this poor little skunk walking up the road mid-day. His tail was droopy and it looked as though he was panting. We drove by and then a few blocks later we looked at eachother and said "We have to go back and help that skunk". So we drove around the block and sure enough the skunk was still slowly walking up the road. When there was shade he would stop for a second and catch his breath. We weren't sure what to do. I thought maybe he was thirsty, but how to get him water? I didn't feel bad enough to get sprayed!! So, we ran back home and got a bowl of water. We went back and the skunk was still walking along the road. We realized the skunk was making a pretty straight line. We went up half a block and set the water dish down and then waited in the car. Sure enough the skunk found the water dish and took a big drink. In the next shady spot he laid down again for about 10 minutes. We sat and watch until he got up, obviously in better shape, no longer dragging his tail on the ground and moving at a much quicker speed. At this point we decided to continue on with our day, but I would like to think the little guy was ok after that.

[onimity]

You know I absolutely refuse to shop at Walmart. You can't shop at Walmart and simultaneously lament the loss of the middle class in America. In order to get such cheap prices, they force manufacturing to go overseas.

V.

but you can buy a bike there for $68.97. Try that at your LBS!

Seriously, I agree. There is no free lunch, the price of a bargain is always passed on.

I also agree with those opposed to shooting the skunk, but think we all have to make our own decisions about that sort of thing. My mom used to kill ground squirrels (with a baseball bat! ) when they started burrowing in her vegetable garden. I understood that to some degree, we ate for a good part of the year from that garden, but it still really bothered me. Now that she has no kids at home she plants the same and lets them have their share.

I eat meat but think it's a real shame that we kill animals (or raise them in awful conditions) for our convenience, or simply because we don't like them, and that we destroy beautiful landscapes and habitats for our own 'needs,' which often amount to the safety/convenience of repeating strip malls, wider roads to access them and cheap red meat.

We know the sorts of animals that live in a place when we choose to live there also, no? I don't understand why people feel the need to dominate and fence in their own bits of the world, and to kill the pests -- dandelions, skunks -- that would encroach on it.

I know a lot of people have different opinions on this, and I don't think there is always a simple or universal answer. I just don't understand the need to kill an animal encroaching on 'our space.' I live in the foothills and it is not uncommon for a bear or mountain lion to be shot for roaming into residential areas and behaving dangerously. That makes me really sad.

Speaking of skunk shooting... the father of a childhood friend shot a skunk once. It had been living under their deck and had sprayed the cat a few times and so had to be eliminated. So he shot the skunk which promptly ran under the deck and below the house where it died. The smell was unbelievable and it cost them thousands of dollars to tear up the deck and get under the house. It put him off the skunk shooting, though!

Lots of opinions on this one, and I like the variety and that we can all express our different feelings on the matter.

Anne

[maillotpois]

DH shot a mocking bird with a pellet gun once. (We were living in the city limits in San Diego).

The d@mned thing kept going off at 3 in the morning. It was like one of those car alarms that sounds all the different alarm tones over and over. We tried throwing rocks at it, shooing it away. It was in a neighbor's tree. Weeks and weeks this went on. Finally he went to the sporting good store and bought a pellet gun. Then one night, in the pitch dark, he shot it. I don't know how he did it, but the thing never came back, so he must have hit it.

We felt badly about it, but we slept better than we had in weeks.

[onimity]

Sarah,

I used to live in Orange County and had a similar bird in the neighborhood. It was uncanny how well it could imitate a car alarm:

whoOOOp-whoOOOp-whoOOOp-whoOOOp eRRRnh-eRRRnh-eRRRnh-eRRRnh bEEdup-bEEdup-bEEdup-bEEdup whoOOOp-whoOOOp-whoOOOp-whoOOOp

It was the exact same pattern as our neighbor's alarm (which went off frequently) and the bird had it down pat.

I suppose the little guy was trying to attract the ladies SoCal-style.

Anne