The skunk is dead....

[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

[maillotpois]

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

O.M.G.!!! That is EXACTLY what this bird would do. That's amazing.

And Yellow, you can call the Feds on me any time....

[yellow]

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

I'm sure I don't need to tell you that if he had killed the thing, it would have been a violation of the MBTA. It's a good thing the wildlifey lawyer I know works for the state and not the feds

I once had a fellow tell me he was going to turn me in for violating the MBTA because I collected an owl feather in the woods.

In a sick kind of way, I miss mockingbirds. They are completely absent from this part of Oootah.

(Note to all: this is meant to be humorous. really.)

[Lise]

In a sick kind of way, I miss mockingbirds. They are completely absent from this part of Oootah.

Yellow, if I could catch the one in the tree outside BF's bedroom window, I'd ship it to you. In a very humane way that was in full compliance with all federal laws, of course.

J. has threatened to shoot said bird, but it's usually mumbled around 3 AM..."ah'm going to...that bird...shotgun...snoooore" It is rather aggravating. The bird, that is.

I once dated a guy who was an officer in the Chilean navy, and went out to shoot rats in the alley out back of his Chicago apt. He was incensed when I told him it was surely illegal to discharge his firearm in the alley...he felt he was doing a public service!

PS: Thanks, Snap, for keeping it civil around here. L.

[snapdragen]

I have a group of crows that sing me awake every morning So pretty....NOT!

[Zeek]

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.

I could be wrong (Lord knows it's happened before) but is it legal to kill a mocking bird?

[Lise]

I could be wrong (Lord knows it's happened before) but is it legal to kill a mocking bird?

Well, surely it's a sin (referrence To Kill A Mockingbird).

Frankly, I don't know how likely it is that one would kill a bird by shooting at it in the dark. I do love birdsong in the morning, just not the same incessant three notes at 3 AM!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I do love birdsong in the morning, just not the same incessant three notes at 3 AM!

I can understand how that would disturb many people's sleep. I guess I am lucky in that even angrily cawing crows sound like soothing music to me.

Well, our neighbor has trapped a few beavers and we called in hopes that he had a skunk trap handy. He didn't. He came over with a huge smile on his face and a high powered pellet gun. He received the gun at Christmas and hadn't had a chance to use it yet."

.....Well there's a guy who apparently did seem to get some joy out of it!

We had a ground hog/woodchuck in our garden last summer who decided to burrow a home under our shed and eat our vegetable garden up every day. I borrowed a Have-a-heart trap and he fell for the apples and peanut butter and we trapped him in about an hour. We drove him far away to some abandoned fields and let him go there. I can't imagine that trapping a skunk would be an option though. I'd have just let him wander off eventually- he probably wouldn't stay right where big hound dogs are living for very long.

There used to be a skunk living somewhere right on Main Street in our village. Every night he would go rummaging for dropped goodies in back of Ralph's Pretty Good Cafe. I ran right into him with my little pug dog one evening- he was huge and gorgeous. Me and little Kinky just politely backed off and let him be! The restaurant crew knew enough to always check carefully before going back there at night, they all knew about the skunk. Everyone managed to coexist ok.

[maillotpois]

You're a weak admin.

Not likely.

I learned in third grade no matter how much you disagree with someone you don't call them stupid. Period. Don't turn this on her.

Frankly, I don't know how likely it is that one would kill a bird by shooting at it in the dark. I do love birdsong in the morning, just not the same incessant three notes at 3 AM!

He's a good shot. Or maybe it was dumb luck. Either way, we'd be happy to give J some pointers....

[pooks]

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.

I'm with you on this one.

I won't buy anything made in China any more. And it's not always about cheaper goods. When I pick up a designer coffee mug in Starbucks and see "Made in China" on the bottom, I am not believing for one second that it would have cost twice the already exhorbitant price if it had been made in the US. That's not even about delivering cheap goods; it's just about bigger profits for the multinationals that are running the world.