Mel was out of town last week for work. We managed pretty well up until Wednesday, with that being said I don't think he could of done much to help this situation if he had been home.
I was loading the dishwasher and glanced out the kitchen window to see a skunk in the road. Weird huh? Middle of the day and a skunk is wandering around the road, and then he wanders into my yard and all around the front of the house. I bring in the cat. This is gonna get u-g-l-y.
He keeps wandering around, and I get the kids to watch out the front window, since neither of us has ever really seen a skunk up close. He continues to walk around and I notice he is stumbling and having lots of trouble walking straight as well as staying upright. At this point I start to get a little anxious that the skunk has some terrible disease. I watch as he heads through the pines into the neighbors yard. Whew, we really dodged that bullet!
Later that night the kids and I went out to eat with some friends, I load the kids like usual and get in the van. It's pretty dark by this point. It doesn't cross my mind that there was ever a skunk in my yard.
As I'm pulling out of the drive I see the darn thing curled up in a ball in my landscaping. Of all the nerve. I was within 3 feet of the stupid thing. I didn't know what to do, so I did what any girl does when she doesn't know what to do. I called my daddy. He told me to call the police. I felt a little silly calling the police for a possible rabid skunk, but I didn't really have any other options at that time of night.
The policeman arrived and was very polite. He called my cell to tell me that the skunk was in fact still there and appeared to be dead. He was going to call TWRA (Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency) and call me back. In that time span the skunk moved, and TWRA refused to come over and remove him. He was evidently not a threat to anyone, only my sanity.
I came home several hours later to find the stupid creature in the same spot. I almost cried, tried to hold it together for the kids, and called mama and daddy again. I couldn't envision how I could possible unload two kids and get them into the house with a rabid skunk no more than three feet away. I thought about having a panic attack, but decided against it since there was no one there to help me anyway. They talked me through it and we all made it in safely.
Sometime that night I finally got in touch with Mel to tell him my ordeal, in which his advice was to try and google how to get rid of skunks. Great advice, but the skunk isn't moving at all. I don't think shooing it is gonna work.
I did have several people offer to come shoot it, but I decided that since 1) I'm definitely in the city limits and firearms are illegal and 2) do skunks spray when you shoot them? I didn't want to chance it. The smell of skunk spray would not have sat well with prospective buyers.
Did I mention people were coming to look at our house at 10am the next morning? The skunk has placed himself in the landscape between the front sidewalk and the carport effectively making himself known to all who enter.
I awoke bright and early determined to find a plan of action. First on my list was the TWRA. They were of no help and informed me that he was behaving normally and I was infringing on his territory. Great advice. Also he mentioned I might want to let my dog try and chase him off. I can just see my stinky skunked dog carrying around a rabid skunk in his mouth.
I found my last resort about 8:30 that morning. A man from a nearby town agreed to come out as soon as possible and remove this creature, but warned me he might have to put it down. He could have shot it to the moon for all I cared.
He arrived at about 10:00. The first attempt to coax the skunk into the trap was unsuccessful, the skunk was far to sick to move. He then breaks out a pellet gun and solves my problem once and for all. Wildlife removal guy was pretty sure that the skunk was rabid. I ended up paying the dude $100 for taking the skunk, and to pay the USDA lab for testing on the skunk. Turns out if you have the misfortune of having a sick skunk land in your yard you also get to pay to have it tested.
I am still waiting on the test results.
The realtor and customers showed up as the guy was packing up, at least they didn't have to see the thing, or the shooting of it. I haven't heard back from them, wonder why?
So seriously, who does this happen too?
2 comments:
I'm surprised you did call the one and only HOWARD COULSON. He clams to be really good with skunks, he's so good he had one in the back of his truck and took it up to school to show all the kids...did Hannah miss that...lol
We joked about calling Howard, but I didn't want to be responsible for him getting bit by a rabid skunk. It wouldn't have moved to walk into a cage or anything, so I thought it best to leave him be. Hannah didn't miss the skunk at school, in fact I thought she was lying about it until he told me different.
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