Help! Black & White Cat in Trap. Smells Bad.

[cmom]

Congratulations...Several years ago someone was catching skunks and releasing them near our property. We are rural on a dead end road. For a couple of weeks I was catching skunks nightly. One night I caught 2 skunks in a trap. One day I found a baby goose in our driveway. I think whoever dropped of the goose knew we had chickens so figured they would drop it off here. Good luck and have fun...

 

[Folly's place]

It's illegal, and bad policy, to transport critters 'far away' in most states. You can look at your Utah DNR site to find out what's okay.
Here, we can release on our same property, or on private land within the same county with landowner permission. Nobody wants a trapwise likely chicken killer nearby though!
Cute as they are, and in spite of Disney movies, not good to have in your back yard.
Mary

 

[ValerieJ]

It's illegal, and bad policy, to transport critters 'far away' in most states. You can look at your Utah DNR site to find out what's okay.
Here, we can release on our same property, or on private land within the same county with landowner permission. Nobody wants a trapwise likely chicken killer nearby though!
Cute as they are, and in spite of Disney movies, not good to have in your back yard.
Mary

What would you recommend? Now she knows what not to do. LOL

 

[Folly's place]

Here in Michigan farm country, I'd shoot it. Where she lives, probably not.
Upgrade fencing?
Release at home, not so good.
Feed and water until Monday phone calls?
Call a wildlife removal service? Maybe on a weekend some might be available.
I just spent time on the Utah DNR site, and got nowhere...
Hindsite is great, and having a plan for any critters trapped before it happens would be best. Hindsite.
Mary

 

[Peepsi]

It's illegal, and bad policy, to transport critters 'far away' in most states. You can look at your Utah DNR site to find out what's okay.
Here, we can release on our same property, or on private land within the same county with landowner permission. Nobody wants a trapwise likely chicken killer nearby though!
Cute as they are, and in spite of Disney movies, not good to have in your back yard.
Mary

No one was released far away. I personally love skunks. Found out where he lives....under the neighbor's shed right up against our chain link section of fence.

The DH and I advanced slowly on the cage holding an 8' x 10' tarp in front of us. We got right up to the trap, and the little cute patootie was just patiently waiting. I was able to get the tarp over the trap, pick it and move it about 2 feet forward so the trap was right up against that section of chain link fence. We dug a hole under it for the skunk to go through, and we opened the trap. He sniffed around, walked calmly out of the trap, and went under the fence, then under the neighbor's shed where he lives. No spraying, no startling, nothing. I was so surprised!

Thank you everyone for helping!

Of course, I need to make sure he doesn't get back IN our yard again. Once those chickens arrive, I'll be in chicken momma mode and will not appreciate cute little skunks as much.

 

[Gray Farms]

If you call the DNR they're likely to release it on the same property.

 

[Peepsi]

Here in Michigan farm country, I'd shoot it. Where she lives, probably not.
Upgrade fencing?
Release at home, not so good.
Feed and water until Monday phone calls?
Call a wildlife removal service? Maybe on a weekend some might be available.
I just spent time on the Utah DNR site, and got nowhere...
Hindsite is great, and having a plan for any critters trapped before it happens would be best. Hindsite.
Mary

Yeah, no shooting allowed. I'm in a dense city. We have a lot of skunks around, and I like them. I just don't want them in my yard, so I need to make changes to our fencing.

Oh, also....no one else has chickens around here.

If I catch a coon though, I WILL call animal control to come out and kill it.

 

[ValerieJ]

No one was released far away. I personally love skunks. Found out where he lives....under the neighbor's shed right up against our chain link section of fence.

The DH and I advanced slowly on the cage holding an 8' x 10' tarp in front of us. We got right up to the trap, and the little cute patootie was just patiently waiting. I was able to get the tarp over the trap, pick it and move it about 2 feet forward so the trap was right up against that section of chain link fence. We dug a hole under it for the skunk to go through, and we opened the trap. He sniffed around, walked calmly out of the trap, and went under the fence, then under the neighbor's shed where he lives. No spraying, no startling, nothing. I was so surprised!

Thank you everyone for helping!

Of course, I need to make sure he doesn't get back IN our yard again. Once those chickens arrive, I'll be in chicken momma mode and will not appreciate cute little skunks as much.

Perfect! I love a happy ending!!! And no one had to die. I'm especially happy about that.

 

[ValerieJ]

Yeah, no shooting allowed. I'm in a dense city. We have a lot of skunks around, and I like them. I just don't want them in my yard, so I need to make changes to our fencing.

Oh, also....no one else has chickens around here.

If I catch a coon though, I WILL call animal control to come out and kill it.

That's funny. I love the raccoons, but I don't want them near my chickens. So far, my dog has been patrolling the yard and chasing them away. One of them had a couple babies this spring and those babies see my bird feeders as raccoon feeders. LOL Cute little bandits. Now we are considering a hot fence to keep them out of the chicken run.

 

[Peepsi]

That's funny. I love the raccoons, but I don't want them near my chickens. So far, my dog has been patrolling the yard and chasing them away. One of them had a couple babies this spring and those babies see my bird feeders as raccoon feeders. LOL Cute little bandits. Now we are considering a hot fence to keep them out of the chicken run.

Oh, I like raccoons too (I actually love all animals, when they're behaving nicely). If I wasn't getting chickens, I wouldn't mind them either. But coons are notorious chicken killers, and much more intelligent and capable than skunks. A skunk doesn't have little hands that are capable of opening latches and probably can't plan like a coon can. They're also weaker than coons. So I'm not worried so much about skunks around the chickens (they'll be in a completely enclosed hardware cloth run that the skunk can't squeeze or dig into), but the coons I worry about cause they're smart and strong.