The Conclusion of Hole Fest '08

Well, as I said in the post below, we finally came to the finale of our week-long hunt for our sneaky little critter. He kept outsmarting us at every turn. But, after a couple days of no hole digging and what looked to be no activity, Pete decided to cover up the holes and just move the trap to the side of the house, instead of right by the hole and wouldn't ya know it but the night he did that we caught it! I woke up yesterday morning to Madie and Noah running into my room at 6:30am saying, "We caught a skunk! We caught a skunk!". Not QUITE the way I had hoped to wake up that day. It was like 2005 all over again! But, yes, we caught a big, fat skunk. Much bigger than the one we caught last time. We had a little mommy last time, but this one was a big daddy that was ready for winter. He was puffy and chubby and ready to go. That's where my admiration of him ends though. I actually felt a bit sorry for catching him in the beginning., knowing that he was going to die sometime that day. He was so cute and when we went outside to look at him, he just gave us this sad look of defeat. But, when Pete and I spent 12 hours on the phone with people trying to find someone, anyone!, that would come out and get rid of him, my pity was gone - replaced by frustration. Animal Control was a bit more helpful than last time. Instead of telling US to shoot it, they offered to come out and shoot it for us. Of course, we'd be left to dispose of whatever was left of him, but that wasn't their problem. Since, we didn't really want to see skunk guts blown all over the side of the house, we took a pass on that offer. We called the Conservation Office and they wouldn't do it. We called local people that we heard about, none of them returned our calls. I called Critter Control, who had come out before, but apparently in the 3 years since our last skunk episode, their prices tripled and they would charge us $300 to come out. I think that was mostly because of drive time. No one from CC was closer than 2 hours from us. Then I called a couple people in the Chicago area. Their prices were $315. This was the offer I received at 6pm, after calling all day. I wasn't thrilled. Pete was at the point where he was going to suit up in his chemical suit, take a blanket, throw it over the cage and then try and release it again, hoping to avoid a rabies-induced attack from the hungry, angry skunk that was stuck in the cage all day. Nevermind the fact that it could spray him out of pure bitterness. Then, I prayed. Don't ask me why I didn't pray before this, but I guess annoyance will cause you to forget those things. ;-) So, I prayed and decided to look one more time online with Pete's laptop from work and found a guy named Art who does this and it even listed our county as a place he serves! I called him, sounding fairly desperate at this point. It was 8pm and we didn't want another day to pass with this skunk in our yard. He was kind enough to offer to drive out (an hour from his place) at that exact moment to take care of the skunk. He said it would cost $175, but considering our other offers, this was a bargain!!!! So, he came out and got to our house about 9:30 last night, gently placed a blanket over the cage, carried him to the front of the house and loaded him in the back of his truck. He realized when he got here he had forgotten his needles. You see, all skunks have to be euthenized (I know I spelled that wrong), because so many of them carry rabies. So, we thanked him, paid him, and wished him well as he drove the hour back to his home with a LIVE skunk in his truck. I just hope he didn't hit any bumps or anything. Eeek! So, our ordeal is over. Pete has sworn to never, ever again trap anything living in our yard. He will let it live there and go on its merry way. To say he wasn't happy spending $200 on a stupid skunk would be an understatement. Pete actually said that he may try and get a trapping license. He figures with absolutely NO competition around he, he'd make a fortune! ;-) haha So, to Aunt Judi who guessed it right from the beginning, I have no skunk to send you as the door prize. So, I will just offer you the joy of knowing you were right. :-) Good job!!!!

OH - and have I mentioned that when talking to my sister about how to get rid of the thing, she offered so many useful ideas - and I use the term "useful" quite generously. She said to get poison and throw it at him. Yeah, because I have so many types of poison lying around - arsenic, cynide, etc.... I think she even mentioned Drano. If I were Jeff, I'd be scared. She seems a little too eager to try her hand at these things. ;-)