Watch Me Pet A Wild Skunk!

Remember kids, I'm a trained professional! ^_^Show more

I received a request this morning from a local mammal rehabber, who was requested by another local mammal rehabber, to go pick up an injured skunk at Lake Arrowhead. He's been hanging around on the resident's porch for the cat food at night and sleeping right in front of their front door or in their shrubs by day. They said they couldn't get out of the house by the front door recently, because he was curled up and sleeping right in front of it, and it opens out. How considerate that they didn't want to disturb him! Haha

About a week ago he came up injured and they found a lot of blood on the porch a couple of days later and presumed it was from him. They had been trying to get a rehabber to come get him, and they finally got the game warden to come out, who apparently just poked at him. The skunk then promptly ran around the corner and under a fence. The case landed in my lap this morning, so I got a crate, my snake hook, small and large catch nets, a tarp to wrap the crate in if he was spraying, and a pair of gloves, and set out to go do the job that ordinary Americans won't do.

He was easier than handling most cats. He barely wanted to move from his sleeping spot when I found him under the shrub. I couldn't get the small net over him because of all the branches from the shrub. I tried to use the snake hook to pull him towards me, but he kept moving and it would slip off his body. He was just lookin' at me, and wondering what I was doing. He didn't seem overly concerned. He just looked inconvenienced that his sleep was being interrupted! I set up the crate with the door open on the other side of the shrub and I used the snake hook to push him out of the shrub and into the crate. He wanted to come back out, but I easily redirected him back in, and he didn't put up much of a fuss. I even had to scruff him by the neck to move him, but he was pretty calm about it. Like most other skunks I've had to handle in similar cases, he was perfectly docile. The key with skunks is to be QUIET and calm. No loud noises or loud talking. No sudden movements or jarring. If you're slow, quiet, and gentle, they're easy to work with and don't spray unless you do something stupid, like drop a jar of marbles!

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