I caught a skunk!

[IceAngel]

I do agree with you, and I certainly understand the rules.

Will it sound bad if I say I think that trap and release is a good idea? I try to follow laws, even ones I don't like, but we live with so many fields and forests and land. We found a place with lots of forest, fields and trees, away from poultry as far as we could see. Rabies kills animals very quickly, so I doubt it had rabies (though I was careful all the same). It didn't eat cat food, it ate chicken food, eggs, and probably the beetles that call our barn home.

Please don't take this as an argument, I do agree with you, it just seems senseless to shoot or drown a healthy young skunk that didn't attack poultry when it could have walked (eventually) to where we released it. If an animal showed health problems we would call for some one to put it down so it wouldn't pass it on.


Sometimes its hard to know what to do, but I wouldn't want to drown a skunk, and we don't have a anything stronger then an air rifle.

Hmmm to kill or not to kill .... what a nice segue into spirituality. My personal belief is that you should only kill if you have to. Relocating the skunk was the humane thing to do and I applaud you for it @GitaBooks . Yes the government yokes us with many rules and good citizens abide by them for the most part but in some of us the voice of our psyche overrides rules and regulations. We had a Wild Life Protections Officer in our area who was suspended because he didn't follow the rules about killing an orphaned bear cub. Instead he found it a Wild Life Sanctuary because he just couldn't kill a healthy cub. Hopefully I am not the only one who sees the incongruity between his title and punishment, lol.

As far as Rabies is concerned it doesn't just spontaneously generate. Someone would have reported a bat, a racoon or other vector acting strangely in the area and a media alert would have gone out. You can actually phone your vet and find out how close the last rabies outbreak was in your vicinity. The fact that the Skunk was doing Skunk business in the barn; eating chicken feed and eggs and spraying when frightened indicated a healthy animal. Afflicted animals act very erratically, that's one of the cautionary signs.

Good on ya for going the extra mile for PePe. Buddhists would be proud of you, lol.

 

[GitaBooks]

Hmmm to kill or not to kill .... what a nice segue into spirituality. My personal belief is that you should only kill if you have to. Relocating the skunk was the humane thing to do and I applaud you for it @GitaBooks . Yes the government yokes us with many rules and good citizens abide by them for the most part but in some of us the voice of our psyche overrides rules and regulations. We had a Wild Life Protections Officer in our area who was suspended because he didn't follow the rules about killing an orphaned bear cub. Instead he found it a Wild Life Shelter because he just couldn't kill the cub. Hopefully I am not the only one who sees the irony in his title and consequent punishment, lol.

As far as Rabies is concerned it doesn't just spontaneously generate. Someone would have reported a bat, a racoon or other vector acting strangely in the area and a media alert would have gone out. You can actually phone your vet and find out how close the last rabies outbreak was in your vicinity. The fact that the Skunk was doing Skunk business in the barn; eating chicken feed and eggs and spraying when frightened indicated a healthy animal. Afflicted animals act very erratically, that's one of the cautionary signs.

Good on ya for going the extra mile for PePe. Buddhists would be proud of you, lol.

Thank you.

That means a lot to me.