Well, if it hasn't sprayed yet, it may be that it will exercise restraint.

If it dies on the porch, the sphincter muscles that hold the musk inside will relax and you'll have concentrated skunk odor soaking into your porch.

Depending upon your attitude towards life, you might try carefully approaching the skunk and gently jerking the cup free. Don't try to tear its head off. Just let it think the cup is coming off and it may push it away, not realizing you're even there. It will be startled, but it seems to be a reasonable creature.

The thing to remember is that the actual spray goes out the back end. If you stay near its head, even if it sprays, you may not get any on you. I would wear gloves though.

And do have someone videotape the process.

Ray :)

I think if you do everything very slowly and calmly, it will not spray you. I had a skunk living under the sink in the washroom of my barn, and he never sprayed any of us. He would walk right between your legs and out the door like nothing was out of the ordinary. But, we made sure to stand still and not make any fast movements, etc. The trapper man who came every year to trap the skunks, oppossums, etc, said that he very rarely got sprayed by them. If he had a skunk in the trap (Havaheart trap), he would walk up to it very slowly and calmly put a towel over the cage, and then he could pick up the cage and take it wherever, no problem.

I agree, put some gloves on, go up to him very slowly and camly take the cup off his head. Then it's your choice to either slowly back away, or sprint off the porch. They generally only spray when they feel threatened, so I think if you either back off or take off, you won't suffer.

If you or your porch does get stinky, make a solution with a box of baking soda, a bottle of peroxide, and a spoonful of dish soap (degreasing--such as Dawn). Apply it to whatever got sprayed, let it sit for a minute, and rinse off. This works very well on dogs, too, although it may bleach their hair a bit. It loses it's power after a few hours, so if you don't use it all, just throw the rest out.

Good luck, and let us know how it went!

Videotape? LOL, thanks!

Well that didn't work. I had to turn on the light to move some stuff out of the way, and that got it agitated so I had to back away. I did a google search and found that if you catch a skunk in a live trap like a Havahart, if you hold a sheet between you and the trap then drop it over the trap, the skunk might not get upset and spray. I figured I could at least drop a sheet over the chair so that if it sprayed it would get the sheet instead of me - but the skunk didn't like the sheet any better than light. It didn't spray, but it did run off into the woods.

I wish people wouldn't just throw their trash on the ground; slow death from dehydration is pretty cruel.

Ray "videotape the process" LOL and I want the link to the video file online too- if you get one!

If you try to get the cup off yourself, I'd sacrifice an old throw run for him to get purchase on, while you are on the cup side gently pulling. If he blows, you know what I mean, hopefully it would be on the rug and not your porch.

Please let us know how the little fellow does, and you too!

broodyjen that website I found said pretty much the same thing, that skunks have been known to live around people, in or under buildings, without spraying. This one acted like I was invisible when it came to get its water. I thought that odd, but apparently it's normal behavior for a skunk.

Skunks don't seem to have a 'look up' gene--they really don't seem to recognize anything that isn't at ground level.

I'm thinking he was just resting after over-indulging in a Butterfingers blizzard.

I think the cup can be torn away--I hope he'll tear the cup away. Skunks have surprisingly strong claws and manipulative paws.

In my experience, skunks tend to be restrained about using their spray. Usually the problems seem to be with a nervous young skunk in strange surroundings. Our most memorable taste of chemical warfare was when we rolled square bales of hay that had been part of a family's nest from a stack and the youngsters ran totally amuck. My mother threatened to call the fire department to bring their hoses to wash the place down.

Ray

ok what night will this be on funniest videos???I see how you feel not sure I could do it.how about a pole with a hook on it?reach out pull it off would he see it comming?

I'm ready for him if he comes back tonight. I cleared all the gardening supplies off the porch, moved the furniture so I have room to get at him, collected some old ragged sweats, a shower cap, safety goggles, boots, and gloves. I read the directions on how to get video clips on my digital camera and have a tripod. I took the dark green flowered sheet off my bed and tied it to a couple rakes with plant training wire. Given all this preparation, he'll probably come back sans the cup... I hope. If not, I may very well end up sending the clip to AFV.

LOL, I have to see this!!!!! especially with the shower cap etc. LOL!

Good luck! I hope you can help the little fella :)

Sheila

Poor thing. :( Another idea is to get one of those metal, long-handled 'grabber' things (I use one to retrieve the eggs that my hens have laid in weird, inaccessable places) with the rubber tips on the ends. The way you don't get to close (calmer skunk, better chance of grabbing the cup lid and a better chance of coming out smelling like a rose) and the rubber ends give you a better chance of getting a purchase on the lid.

Good luck, hope you can free the poor little guy!

Velvet

You know, I'll bet we could sell tickets.

Ray

Oh, I wish I'd read your post earlier! I had the very same thing happen at the camp I was working last week. A small skunk had gotten stuck in one of those large styrofoam cups (front paws and head). Since his front paws were stuck in the cup, he couldn't get it off. I walked up slowly, didn't say a word, and pulled off the cup. He blinked in the sunlight and ran off. Never even threatened to spray. I think they know when something is going to "get them" and when everything is cool. I really hope your guy hasn't died from dehydration yet. I do understand you not approaching him though. I had no choice. I was working a childrens camp and KNOW they would have scared it into spraying.
Let us know if you see him again, and don't be too afraid of pulling off the cup. If you can gather the courage, try to get a hold of it by the cap, otherwise you'll pull and just the cup will come off----leaving the cap on his neck like one of those crazy "lampshades" they put on injured dogs/cats. All you have to do is hold on, he'll put his head out for you. Run like crazy, just in case.
Carla

This is heartbreaking. The poor little guy came to you for help. He sensed that he could trust you, I'm sure. And he was right.
Why can people not think of looking down and why can they not put their trash in their own trash cans. That's more a statement than a question, I guess. The critter world shouldn't be suffering because of our unwitting self indulgence. I hope he returns to your porch or somehow gets that thing off his head. Wish I could come and help you.
Best of luck with the little guy.

I am at a little loss as to what the green sheets wired to rakes are for, but it sounds like good preparation. A good skunk helper is always prepared.

It sounds like you'll need the entire NASA operations crew to get you through this task. Goggles, check. Ragged sweats, check. Shower cap, check. LOL!

Not only would I buy a ticket, I would pay top dollar for a front row seat. Best of luck with the little stinker.

Poochella I tried a white sheet last night and it scared him off. I'm hoping he won't notice a very dark color so much. The rakes are handles so that I don't have to lean right over him. I really don't want to get sprayed! A huge nearly all white skunk sprayed near the house over the winter and it was just about asphixiating inside for days. That chemical can give you a terrible headache and I'd like to contain it if at all possible.

The video of DPallas in sweats, shower cap, and goggles, sheets at ready, removing the cup from the head of an irate skunk--$10,000

Getting to amuse myself at the expense of DPallas--$20,000

Someone who would go to such effort with the chance of getting bombed just to save an animal's life--Priceless.

Good luck, DPallas.

Ray

Ray, I like your humor and enjoy your posts :-)

The skunk didn't visit last night. Either the cup did him in or he got it off himself. There was a little rain yesterday, so he may have found water elsewhere.

Well, we all know that far too often people throw trash anywhere on the ground or out the window of their automobile. But I have watched skunks get into trash cans and watched them "look up" and climb into a lawn chair my aunt left a bowl of cat food in. If they can smell it, they look for it and figure out how to get to it. They can be very smart and very dumb. Let's just hope that he got it off and learned a lesson.

I went out at the crack of dawn this morning to plant some shrubs before it got too hot, and who was out there hunting bugs in the lawn, but the little skunk.

All's well that ends well.

Wait! Wait! Was he hunting with the plastic cup on his head or au naturale? And, if au naturale, how do we know it's the same unfortunate skunk? Are they territorial, so it would be likely only one skunk per square acre etc etc?

I do hope the little fellow is free at last, for both your sakes, but I will really miss seeing the 'rescue' video!

Au naturale. Yes, they're territorial, and according to a Missouri Conservation Dept. document I found, they'll forage roughly 2 acres around their den, but not necessarily the same area of it every night. In arid regions where food is scarce, territories may cover up to 200 acres.

They try to build their den near a water source. There's a little pond a few hundred feet behind the house, and that's the direction he always comes and goes from, so I guess he lives near there. We're 6" or more behind on rain this year and the pond is dried up, so the birdbaths and cat dishes are the only water nearby. There's a spring-fed pond in the pasture, but it's too far away for him to find.

I've had more animals coming here for water this summer than ever before. I discovered a new type of lizard I've never seen before (fence lizard) and some sort of very large spotted frog. Skinks and tree frogs are stuck all over the place and I have to shuffle box turtles around as I mow the lawn. Saw a black rat snake catch and eat one those big frogs under a rose bush, and saw a possum catch and eat a black rat snake under a blackberry bramble. I also saw a godzilla-sized possum that may be responsibile for the disappearance of my only two tamed feral cats. It's like Wild Kingdom on the lawn. I wish it would rain so they'd all go home; in the meantime, my sprinklers and soaker hoses draw them like magnets.

In any event, I'm now certain it's the same skunk. He showed up at 8pm tonight as usual for his water, and came and went by the same trail he always uses.

New video:

Six-foot-three ex-football player doing happy dance for unscented DPallas and untrapped skunk.

It's tricky, but once you get the visual, it's worth it.

Ray

I like it - better than me running around shrieking in a shower cap :-)

I think you're both "skunked"!

Hilarious!

Suzie

call animal control, thats the kind of stuff thet do for a living!

Here is a link that might be useful: My Shop Home Page, Faxon Oklahoma

There's no animal control out here in the boondocks. We do have the Missouri Department of Conservation, but they're not much help with problem animals.

We (a bunch of neighbors and I) called them about a mountain lion that had aquired a taste for sheep and calves instead of deer. This would have been 1996-98, can't remember exactly. They insisted there are no mountain lions in Missouri and weren't even interested in seeing the livestock carcasses, even though several people had actually seen it. I heard it on the back forty and so did a deputy I called. It became quite a contentious issue when self-proclaimed 'expert' wildlife biologists refused to investigate too.

As it turns out, there have been several officially confirmed sightings of mountain lions in Missouri, including a couple killed by cars. There's an article about them linked below. There must be more instances too, since incidents like our's never ended up in official records.

Here is a link that might be useful: Springfield News-Leader 12/23/04

It's too late now, but I'm thinking you could have thrown a tarp or old towel/blanket over his body, then removed the cup with a rake or something. This is easy for me to say, sitting here hundreds of miles away from the action! LOL

I am glad he doesn't have the lid stuck on like one of those cone things dogs sometimes have to wear!

This summer we had a skunk take up residence behind our pond waterfall, about 3' from my sons's bedroom window. That is just too close for comfort so we trapped him easily and my husband took him for a walk (in the trap) to a local open area. We had the trap covered with a big towel, and he never even saw us and did not spray. He's back now, but he keep his distance, and we can live with that.

This thread is such a hoot.....glad for the happy ending. We had a family of skunks living under our small deck (more like a very large step, with no railing) I have no idea how long skunks live but this went on for several years. The babies were absolutely adorable and we never really felt we had to worry about them spraying. The only time you really saw them was at night. You just had to be careful not to startle them into an oops. I have heard that the babies don't have the control that the adults have and there were a couple of "little stinkers" that happened before they left the nest to go on their own. One of the babies was almost all white and looked like one of those victorian hats with the plumes walking around the front yard. They did not nest under the deck this year, kinda miss them but don't miss the ooops!

A victorian hat walking around the front yard!!! LOL, I love it. That's exactly what they look like.

If it is ever needed again, a bit of information about the skunks. A skunk cannot spray his musk if he cannot raise his tail over his back. If you pick up a skunk by the tail so that he cant curl it over his back, you are safe.
Robert