Received a call yesterday from a county health department: "We have a skunk in our generator outside, can you come and get it?"

Of course....

Get to site and see this when I pull up. Large male skunk with its' head, front legs and belly through a 3-inch hole in the generator housing. I was able to work it through. Took 45 minutes of pushing and prying from behind and also inside housing. The trick was getting some baby shampoo and lathering it up. Then used a small board (3/4x3/4) and was able to roll him over on his back, straighten out back legs, and shove the leg muscle through. Once one side went, he got through easily.

Naturally had quite an audience, as they "wanted" me to get sprayed (I think). They stayed about 30 feet away. Having dealt with many skunks in strange situations like this, I'm still amazed how much they will tolerate and not spray. Our DNR redional wildlife biologist granted permission to the local animal control to shoot it, but I knew that would certainly end up a stinky situation. They opted for my method, and it was successful. Looks like it was stuck over the weekend by the amount of urine, feces, and some blood on the concrete. His back feet (pads) were bleeding from pushing on the rough concrete surface.

I hope you got paid well. No one else could have got it done.

Nice job!

I wouldn't say no one else could have done it, but most likely they may have pondered the idea for a while. I was prying on him within 3 minutes of arrival!

As far as pay.... it's a state job, so by the time I get paid I'll forget I even did the job!

Ron,

Since it had to be euthanized anyway could you have injected him and then just pulled him out or pushed him in? To sensitive of an environment? Or have they changed the rules on relocating?

Nate I would think that it would be considered
rescuing wildlife and that the rule for euthanasia
Wouldn't be applied!

According to state law: Can't be relocated if "taken". If I would have "trapped" the skunk or used a snare pole, it would have to be put down. I left the door open on the opposite side of the generator "accidentally". The ladies at the site were horrified at the idea of shooting it as our biologist approved the ACO to do, so I knew there was going to be a non-skunk stink (the ladies) if the end result was a dead skunk.

The loose interpretation of regs was chosen (by me) as this was in a city where I do 15 bat jobs a year and some squirrel and raccoon work, and there were a dozen employees watching the ordeal. I've done work for some of the employees and for many of their friends over the past 20 years. By allowing the skunk to "escape" during the removal process I headed off a PR nightmare and much negative attitude.

There was no location on the entire property that offered a den site, so as the maintenance guy screened the generator holes the potential for any future skunk issue was greatly minimized. I have no problem using lethal methods or euthanizing, but there are certain (extremely limited) situations where I will act on my best judgement.

Nice post Ron.

Jealous of the green grass also.

Nate, we have green grass too, it's just covered with White stuff right now.

Well played, Ron.

The green grass in the picture was also covered with snow the day before!

BTW, the director did have a choice in the matter regarding the disposition of the skunk. It ran across the lawn and I watched it to make sure it didn't go into the parking lot and hide under a vehicle. It went about 100 yards away from the building and disappeared behind a clump of grass. I went over and discovered a 6-inch PVC drain pipe from the neighboring property (state highway dept facility).

I told her it went in the pipe, and she asked if I was going to set a trap there. (It would have been an easy posi-set). I told her if I trapped it, it was going to be killed. She thought about it (for about 7 seconds) and said to leave it. By the straight-line run it made to that point, I was sure it knew exactly where that tile was and had probably been staying in there for a while.

I'm also thinking there was a good possibility there may have been a female in that generator housing at the time he got stuck which would explain why he tried so hard to get in there!

Or maybe just looking for a warm dark place to crash. Well done.

Dang it man... U have to video these situations...

You are my hero!! I don't have enough experience yet to stay calm and think, my first thought would have been... One end of rope around skunk, the other end tied to my bumper and see which one breaks lose first! Lol

Great job Ron

Good Job. The other hole has a lot of dirt around it, looks like they have been in there a long time. Home sweet Home.

Nice Job Ron!

Great picture Ron. The only animal I know that has hips bigger than his skull. And I'm not real sure about that. I just don't think they have the coordination to move their hips independantly. Once I do it for them, they seem to slip through pretty real.