Animal Rescue
Hey everyone! I got home from work this evening and was informed by my dad that he had found a trapped skunk at his work site today. The site happens to be just across the street from my house so I walked over and checked out the situation. The skunk fell into a hole about 6 to 7 feet deep and can't climb out on it's own. I called animal control and they told me to wrap a 2 x 4 in carpet and place it down the hole so the skunk has traction to climb out on it's own. I did that right away and am just waiting to see what happens. It did start to climb up the 2 x 4 shortly after placing it down there, but fell down again. I'm hoping it'll climb out tonight in the dark when it's less scared than in the light, but I'm not sure if it will.
What I'm wondering is if any of you have any suggestion of other things I can do to help it out. Should I feed it something, as I think it's been down there for nearly 24 hours now. I just feel sick about it still being down there. What should I do??? Thanks in advance.
Do you think the skunk is having problems because it was injured in the fall? I would imagine that if (s)he isn't out by the morning, (s)he's injured. Hopefully it will be a skunk-free hole in the morning. According to the Skunk Haven website skunks eat thawed frozen veggies and tofu. We vegans should have one or the other of those moist foods (hydration seems the most serious concern) while waiting for animal control to say what to do next / come out to the site. They have long-handled tools, but are likely trying to avoid smelling like skunk for weeks.
http://www.skunkhaven.net/Food.htm
This is really a faunablues question. She's in vet school.
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Skunk Haven people have down that they, "We provide 24-hour emergency support for pet skunk care." I'd contact them first if the skunk is still in the hole tomorrow.
Scroll down a little over 2/3rds way and it has contact info:
http://www.skunkhaven.net/index.htm#Projects
Thanks for replying. I'll definitely have to re think things in the morning. It's very possible he or she was hurt in the initial fall...I'm really hoping it'll be a skunk free hole tomorrow too! Thanks so much for the info!
:) Good news! The skunk left on it's own some time throughout the night! :)
Yes! Go skunk!
Oh, good! I'm glad s/he wasn't injured... animal control probably would have just euthanized the skunk in that case ;_;