Fear not, the Skunk War rages on. The Skunk, who has finally been given a name...Stinky...I know, original (taken from the Beanie-Baby we found of the same species), has discovered he can get in and out of the bigger trap (with the food) without any problem, other than that pesky problem of having to thrash the cage off of him.
The food is never just nibbled upon and left to rot, by the way. It (along with the leaves I've been putting near his/her hole to alert us that it is out) is always just gone in the morning, meaning he has been taking everything into his hole with him, making a lovely little home for himself.
On Day 7, my brother and his wife joined our observation team. Now, what happened that night was a bit strange. When the skunk failed to enter the trap, my brother and father and I all jumped from our respective perches and basically charged it with flashlights. We managed to make him do a few loops around the shed before he scurried off into the neighbor's bushes.
As to what we hoped to accomplish from this impulse, I couldn't tell you. Cornering him will only make him more likely to use his last defense to get away from us. Perhaps it was just the fact that, well...the whole situation is beginning to get a little old, I'm not gonna lie.
Tomorrow, someone at my dad's work is lending us yet another cage trap, this one bigger than the last, to try and capture it. If the trap works, wonderful, if not...we have a few options.
Option One (less likely): Leave it be.
Other than the fact that it is a skunk, an animal with one very big con to it, I see no problem with letting he/she live out his/her little 3-4 year life under our shed. My father, on the other hand, does not subscribe to this option. There is a big fear that the skunk might just move under our deck. I have long since thought that there is a bunny patch under the deck...but bunnies will not spray you when they are frightened.
Option Two (Slightly more likely): Call Animal Control
We are hesitant to do this. This will cost money, probably a lot more than the cage did. I'm also almost positive whoever comes will tell us some of the bushes/flowers near his hole will have to be removed.
Option Three (Becoming more and more likely): "Here Lies Stinky, Ex-Skunk"
Because of the stink factor, we'd only really have one method of killing our little friend, and that would be poisoning the bait. Now, I've been hesitant to resort to this. There is no real reason why the skunk should have to die...but sadly, it does have to go. The problem with this is we now have a dead skunk under the shed, which will then require some cutting into the floor of the shed, or replacing all of the flooring in the shed (that's all my dad...seems like a dumb plan to me). And, of course, if it is a momma skunk, by default that means killing any baby kits that may or may not be in the burrow.
But HOPEFULLY this next trap will work, and HOPEFULLY we can transport it without getting sprayed (that could change my feelings on the whole...death...issue), but going out there every night and watching this thing do the same damn routine night after night is proving to be quite pointless.
I'll keep you posted.
No comments:
Post a Comment