November 8, 2016 - The skunk whisperer.
I stepped out into the chilly fall air this
morning and noticed “skunk perfume” still lingered in the air from a nocturnal visitor.
It reminded me of the morning several years ago we had caught an immature striped skunk in the live-catch-and-release trap we had finally gotten to try to rid ourselves of a mean feral cat that was beating up on the other feral cats.
We try our best to live in harmony with the
critters here in the country and didn’t want one mean feral cat chewing up on
the rest of them that were keeping the snakes and mice population down for us.
My
husband noticed the trapped skunk first.
He was out doing his rounds, filling the bird feeders and every morning
he went down toward the back property line under the oak tree to check on the trap. This time, he
stopped halfway to the trap and returned to the house to tell me, “We’ve a little
skunk in the trap.”
Of
course, I scrambled to get my clothes on. I was wondering how “HE” was going to
get the skunk out without being sprayed.
I watched from the patio in the early morning dew. I wanted to get closer, but I hung back; I
was close enough to see and hear the high-drama interaction of skunk and man.
Slowly, step
by step my husband approached the captured animal. It was trying to dig its way out. The skunks little paws were bloody as he had probably been
digging at the wire cage bottom all night and had gotten a little bit of dirt
piled up behind him. The poor little thing was probably exhausted. The skunk continued his digging even now. As my husband approached closer the skunk finally stopped and
they stared at each other for a pretty long time. My husband
used a soft voice on the little fella.
“If you behave, I will let you out,” he called.
He
stepped a little closer. The little skunk was looking at him intently.
“I’m
not going to kill you, I will let you out so you can go on your way.” He stepped a few more steps closer.
My
husband took it real slow – he didn’t want the little critter to take a stance,
lift his tail, and spray him.
He
was closer now and he raised the broom handle slowly.
“It
is okay, I will let you go. You just
stay still. I am going to open the gate.
. .” He talked softly to the little
skunk it seemed for the longest time to get his trust.
In
slow motion, my husband moved the broom handle and deftly lifted the
gate to open the trap. The little skunk didn’t make a move. His little face and those beady eyes were fixed on my husband and the broom handle.
The
little skunk didn’t seem to realize the cage was open. Again, my husband talked to him softly,
“Go on home, the gate is down, go on little “skunk-id . . . .”
Finally, the skunk waddled out the door, took a sharp turn and headed down through the
kudzu, down the banking toward the nearby creek never to be seen again.
My own Skunk
Whisperer to the rescue!
In the fact sheet located in the link below it indicates: “Skunks frequently leave
evidence of their feeding: small,
cone-shaped holes in the soil, where they’ve dug for grubs.”
This morning I
noticed our back lawn is simply riddled with these holes. Maybe our little friend is “bigger” now and
has come for a visit seeing that the live-catch-and-release trap is no longer
in use.
NOTE: The picture at the top of this blog is a
stock photo – not the actual little fella that was captured. Our little captive had lots of white on his
head, back and tail.
Below is a link to Wildlife
Profiles – North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, fact sheet on the Striped Skunk, Mephitis
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