By "dispatched" do you meant he shot it? Was it acting sick or rabid? If not sick or in attack mode, I would have let it wander off.

Yes he shot it. The skunk was not acting 'normal', and we have had 3 skunks test positive for rabies in our county in the last 9 days. I would not take a chance, and neither would the deputy.

We are not in favor of the sensless killing of animals, but this is not something we take chances with. We are a very rural area, little bitty town within a block of wilderness. Unincorporated, so many dogs run loose as well as cats, and I have no doubt that there are many of those without vaccinations.

I would have loved for it to wander off.

Janie

Not nearly as exciting and the year a momma got under the kitchen and had babies! It took us about a week to lure them all out and repair the hole in the foundation!

... and about as exciting as when the skunk got caught in the armadillo trap! Janie and I have each had that experience. I also trapped an opossum, that I liberated. He hissed at me all the way across the road and never looked back when I opened the trap door.

Nell

That's too sad. I wish I hadn't read this post.

Rabies is, unfortunately, on the rise in our area. Skunks, raccoons and fox have been among the confirmed cases. When I lived in the woods at a previous house, a pair of skunks were around a lot of mornings. They were huge and entertaining and I had to drive very slowly past them on the driveway when I'd leave for work! They never sprayed my truck, so I guess they didn't feel threatened.

Cameron

I've seen my share of sick raccoons, poor things, even one that was walking (or staggering) right down the middle of the road; and when I slowed to avoid hitting it, the raccoon came after my car! This was not a busy highway, but a back country road. When I looked in my rear view mirror, I saw another vehicle come to a stop but I don't know what happened after that. Don't see many skunks out during the day unless there is something wrong, but I sure do smell them alot!

I had the experience a couple of years ago of trapping a whole family of oppossums- 6 in all- in my house!

I heard a noise one evening as I worked at my computer. Something was in the bottom drawer of a small chest of drawers! I pulled the drawer a little, and a nose and beady eyes looked up at me. DH removed the critter, and turned it out across the street.

A couple of nights later, I saw movement in the corner of my eye; a young oppossum, about the same size as the first was marching across the office floor. I scooped him up (almost after the fight, too) and put him in a cat carrier until I could take him across the river to release. After that, I set up a live trap in my office and caught 4 others, all released across the river.

DH found a place where the mama probably had birthed and raised them, under the floor, which was under construction. The only mistake she made was not showing them the right exit.

I am sorry if any were offended by this thread. It is just common sense here. We have to protect our animals and children. My friends daughter was bitten by what turned out to be a rabid cat a few years ago. She had to endure very painful shots every day for 12 or 14 days.

Janie

I grew up smelling them on the road but here more towards the coast we don't have them for some reason. We did have our towns post office a couple months ago closed down and evaccuated (sp).I guess people around here never smelled a skunk before and someone I guess was shipping a live skunk and the people their didn't know what it was. It was on the front cover of the local newspaper. That was pretty funny! ~Meghan

I love skunks. That's really sad. How do you know it was rabid? Maybe it was just walking around smelling the flowers?

Unfortunately, the only way to confirm rabies is with a dead specimen, I believe.

I believe you are correct; they have to look at the brain to know for sure.

I don't know for sure that it was rabid. The tests haven't come back yet. It wasn't walking around. It was crouching, making itself very small, then would unfurl itself to show it's real size. It did this for the longest time, and never once started to wander off. This, from a noctournal animal in broad daylight.

Janie

Little Dani,

Unfortunately for the skunk, you are correct. I am an Animal Control Officer in my municipality and you can only test for rabies via microscopic sampling of the brain to check for lesions caused by the virus. There has been a test developed by a single company in recent months that they claim can test from a swab from the mouth however it's been found to be inconclusive and gathering the sample in a case like this would have been impossible and very risky.

If the skunk was out in the daylight and not "caught with his pants down" in a place or situation he could not escape from then he was likely ill. Either distemper or rabies is possible and likely. Either can cause him to behave erratically and can lead, eventually to his unpleasant and untimely demise. You certainly did him a favor. As hard as that can be to accept. I love skunks. I think they are adorable and have a super little personality. But, I must face the facts that I come first. Rabies is fatal for humans and animals. It's a horrible death. Can't take any chances with your family or your neighbors or even your pets. If he had made any attempt to go along on his way I may have let him off the hook but since he just hung around and didn't show any fear and trepidation about the presence of humans I would have done the same. I hope the officer dispatched him in such a way as to preserve his little brain for appropriate testing.

It's a tough world but I have really watched them suffer from distemper. I can't imagine death from rabies (for a human or the skunk). It'd be awful.

Later,

Rene

This is somewhat of a nostalgic thread topic ...... back in New England, skunks were pretty common (and family dogs getting 'skunked' was all too common - btdt).

But, since I've been here in the South, I can't say I've ever seen one, or even been offended by the fragrance after the fact (which was a telling byproduct of a car/skunk altercation).

Are there skunks in the Southeast? I know we have 'possums and raccoons .... and even had a wayward groundhog (woodchuck) in my yard once. But no skunks.

Counting my blessings ......