Pepe le Pew

When I was on the parkway running this morning, I noticed that there was a skunk caught in a trap on the side of the trail, attached to a fence that marked the boundary of a bunch of farmers' fields. Then I remembered that I had heard someone tell me that he had seen it trapped there last Saturday. So I decided the poor thing had suffered long enough. After my run, I put on my rollerblades, grabbed a couple tools ans some gloves, and headed back down the trail for a couple miles.

I was pretty nervous about approaching a skunk (who wouldn't be?) but I figured that if it had been there for a week it was unlikely to put up much resistance. The trap was something like a snare, with wire wrapped around its neck and one leg. It took me a while, but I finally got the wire cut from around it. The poor thing had gotten it so twisted, and its skin had swollen enough that I couldn't extract the wire from all the way around it, but at least it could breathe easier and escape if it wanted.

I called animal control, although I have my doubts that they will do anything (apparently it's run by the police department, and I doubt they are interested in attending to a skunk on a relatively inaccessible part of the trail). But I left it some food and water, so I figure that's all I could do. I hope it survives.

And, although it made no attempt to spray me, just being around it for a few minutes was enough to leave me with a bit of a smell on my skin and clothes. Our house actually has a bit of a musk right now.

Comments

Ann said…
Poor little thing. That was nice of you.
November 27, 2011 at 6:42 AM
joel said…
I meant to make a couple other points in this post that I forgot about. This comes off as self-congratulatory, but what I really wanted to emphasize was how disappointed I was that it took me so long to do something about the situation. Hundreds of people would have passed by that poor skunk over the course of the week, and yet none of us was willing to do anything about it. The police dispatcher I spoke with did say someone had called about it earlier in the day, though. Apparently the farmers who set the traps usually keep an eye on them and make the calls themselves for removal of the animals, and I’m pretty angry that whoever set this one didn’t do anything about it over the course of a week.
November 28, 2011 at 6:59 AM
Financial planning said…
I'm not an expert when it comes to this. Didn't even know this was possible. Useful read, appreciate your posting this.
November 29, 2011 at 5:54 AM
joel said…
I admit, I thought more people would comment on this post. Come on, I was touching a skunk!
November 30, 2011 at 6:12 AM
Troy said…
I'm curious how you knew what type of food skunks eat. Doesn't seem like one of those things you'd have to know in the normal course of a life. For the record - If I had gathered the necessary stones to approach a trapped animal, I would have looked much like a priest approaching an exorcism patient: weapon out and walking slowly...
November 30, 2011 at 6:56 AM
Erin said…
You're a good man Joel. :)
November 30, 2011 at 10:13 AM
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