I am sitting here trying to get everything under control within myself based on the last few days and what has happened. I’ve learned more about people than I care to know. I learned that skunks, although they are beautiful and beneficial creatures not everyone sees that. They only see (and smell) what comes out of their backend anal gland when they are startled, upset or cornered. Funny the skunks aren’t the anal creatures in this scenario.
It came down to the fact that even though, we did everything possible to prevent them from liking it around here. They had turned into habitual feeders and they did not want to leave. We built elevated feeding platforms for the outside cats to use. We completely stripped one of the outside enclosures and are using it for a feeding room at night. There is not one ounce of cat food outside on the ground of this property and hasn’t been for awhile. There is no food left out after 7:00 p.m. not even on the elevated platforms because the coons would come to feed and throw kibble everywhere! Didn’t matter, the skunks came back. They were out day and night- started challenging and fighting with the cats. Something I had never witnessed and hope never to again. They were spraying neighbors, neighbor’s pets, me- in other words, they were pissed off.
So I called around and tried to find out if I could trap them and relocate them. Nope, not since 2015 can you do that. I had called biologists, wildlife locators, wildlife controllers they all said the same thing. You have to kill them.
I don’t kill animals, I rescue them. I knew I couldn’t do it, so I asked one of the controllers I had talked to previously what his cost was for his service. (He said he was the cheapest in the valley). $225.00 for initial evaluation and set up, then $65.00 a skunk, $75.00 removal fee plus travel costs. He was very nice, told me the “best” thing I could do was bait and trap them- then shoot them right between the eyes. He added “Don’t get sprayed, but if you do, mix up 1 quart of Hydrogen Peroxide, 1/4 cup baking soda and a splash of DAWN liquid soap. “Works wonders!” He said, he was right about that.
The family is gone now. They won’t be coming back. I did not do the dirty deed and I cried for days after it was over. One of my neighbors, I overheard him say to his friend. “I told you she was crazy, she’s crying over dead skunks!” Yes, I am crying over a family of ten skunks who wanted nothing else but to survive and in the end, they lost the battle in a major way and now they are headed for the landfill..
I am very sorry. I send you a great big hug. I know that this outcome is rough. Remember that you have the right idea, not them. Sometimes it seems that everything gets twisted and warped. It is not the way it should be, it is just the way it is.
Thank you Rocky. I am so rattled. There was one man who volunteered in the beginning to do the dirty deed. He claimed to be a good marksman. He was not. I will spare you the details but I haven’t slept well since it happened. I ran him off our land immediately and then thankfully found someone who could do the job right and did so.
I’m just so sad for the extreme loss of life to these creatures. I had to dispatch the mom when the jerk was unable to do so and I will never forget the look in her eyes before I ended it. She was looking at me like “What did I do to deserve this?” It will haunt me to my grave. But at least I stopped her suffering, at least I was able to do that. I created this situation without knowing I was doing so. I hope I never see another skunk on our land as long as we continue to live here.
I cry with you, and sending hugs and purrs to you. You did all that you could, but the rest of the world doesn’t view wildlife as LIFE, and I am so sorry.
I am that kind of crazy as well. When we caught a possum in one of the hav-a-heart traps (we had a woodchuck under the deck who had to be removed), I think we surprised the service by having him release him back to our woods. They, by law in this state, would have killed him. We know how beneficial a creature they are, with place in our woods.
There were more skunks than I thought and so the nightmare continued for another day. I hope, pray so hard there are no more left here. I have been up since 3:00 a.m. with food on the ground to see if there are any more babies. I have not seen one.. Total loss of life 14. 🙁 This is my final thought on this whole debacle. As far as I am concerned, the ONLY one who should be making decisions about the life and death of any healthy, beautiful creature is God. Not some government official who thinks he’s God. Goodbye sweet babies, you so deserved more than you got.
I am very sorry about this horrible series of events. It must have been heart-rending to see it happen. May it never have to be done again. The law is inhumane and unjust, and the authorities should be ashamed of themselves for enacting it. If they don’t know it’s inhumane and unjust, they should be ashamed of that, too. Goodspeed, skunk family.