The skunk is dead....

[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.

[Running Mommy]

We all have our own opinions here, but calling someone stupid is uncalled for!

I don't agree with some of the things I read in the posts here, but I would never go so low as to call names. And then to suggest that you hope someone or something KILLS that person???!!!

NO. Back up!! C'mon ladies. This is a diverse forum, with diverse views and beliefs. The fact that until now we have all coexisted in a rather peaceful way is what makes me love TE. Lets not go down the path that so many other forums have...

[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.

[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.

[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

[Meg McKilty]

Meg, did you forget your coffee this morning?

V.

BTW, I was drinking hospital coffee at about 0400 this morning, so it might have something to do with it. That is some nasty coffee, folks.

[SadieKate]

Meg, there are times when animals must be eradicated from an environment. FlyBye’s post gave very little information about the skunk’s behavior but to her it could obviously have been sick. A skunk (or dog or cat) with rabies cannot be tolerated. None of us could see what FlyBye saw. I personally wonder that she’s had 11 serious encounters with skunks, making me think that something in her yard is an attraction for them, but I’m certainly not going to judge her for this one incidence. There is absolutely no evidence that what she did was wrong because there is not enough information.

There is respect in putting an animal out of its misery.

[snapdragen]

Personal attacks are unacceptable. I have deleted the offending posts. If you can't play nice, don't play at all.

Thank you!

[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.)

[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....

[Flybye]

Meg, there are times when animals must be eradicated from an environment. FlyBye’s post gave very little information about the skunk’s behavior but to her it could obviously have been sick. A skunk (or dog or cat) with rabies cannot be tolerated. None of us could see what FlyBye saw. I personally wonder that she’s had 11 serious encounters with skunks, making me think that something in her yard is an attraction for them, but I’m certainly not going to judge her for this one incidence. There is absolutely no evidence that what she did was wrong because there is not enough information.

There is respect in putting an animal out of its misery.

Just so you don't think I live amidst junk cars and in a stink-hole, the 10 encounters happened when I was in high school and we moved into a home that had been abandoned for about 8 years. The skunks, who are creatures of habit, used the area as their home - garage, outbuildings, bushes, etc. The one we shot the other day was the first I have ever had in my yard as an adult.

Snapdragen - Thanks for deleting the offending posts. They belong on another cycling site which I shall not mention.

[SadieKate]

Oh my gosh, that must have been a job to clean up.

[Flybye]

Yes, it was. The previous owners were not very clean. We stripped carpet and repainted the entire house.
I thought my parents had lost their mind when we moved out there. It was a 3000 sq ft home on almost 1 acre and they picked it up for $45,000.
They sold it last spring for $210,000.
Pretty fair profit.
They knew what they were doing the whole time.