Re: RC: Rabies [it's over now]

[Lynn Kinsky <lkinsky@silcom.com>]

>OK, here's the final report (I hope).  The skunk is dead.  My brother in
>law wants to just bury the carcass (which is double bagged & currently in
>a garbage pail) and my sister wants to turn it in to the totally
>non-cooperative authorities. 
> The history of this briefly is:  My sister Dede and her family (husband
>Jeff, three sons, a dog & a cat - and possibly still a canary but I'm not
>sure)  live in a semi-rural area of New York state - the lots aren't large
>(theirs is about half an acre or maybe a bit more) but there's a lot of
>woods around them and a large reservoir nearby.  My sister called me
>yesterday to say a skunk was wandering around her yard, moving
>erratically, spraying at nothing, and drooling.  She had already called
>her vet, the sheriff, the local health department - no one knew what to do
>OR was unwilling to help OR was even answering the phone.  A sheriff did
>come out to her place, but by the time he got there (an hour after the
>call) the skunk had gone underneath a shed attached to the house.  The cop
>refused to even look under the shed, and said that unless the animal was
>out in the open he would not deal with it.  (Sit, skunk.  Stay!  No, no,
>stay for an hour till the sheriff gets back here.) 

Put the bagged skunk in the freezer until someone in authority can be
convinced to deal with it(around here county Animal Control would be the
ones to call -- and they are conscientious  about it).

We have lots of skunks around this place, both spotted and striped (the
dogs have finally learned to stop chasing kitties with fluffy tails, thank
goodness), and what you describe is majorly atypical behavior.


Lynn Kinsky (Santa Ynez, CA)
http://www.silcom.com/~lkinsky