About a month or more ago I saw a ground hog walk up the front walk, eat some birdseed, and then slip under the porch. Last fall I trapped and released (with the help of my friend, Farmer Dan) two other groundhogs. I’m happy to live in harmony with these animals, but my friends and coworkers warn me about the damage they can cause. Plus, the ones last fall started to eat my cherry tomatoes. Room is one thing … board another!
So, I borrowed Farmer Dan’s live trap again. For about a week it sat empty. One Tuesday night I woke up about 1:30 AM with the smell of skunk in my house. I thought for sure I had trapped one! Upon inspection (in the middle of the night in my pjs) there was NOT a skunk in the trap. I noticed Wednesday afternoon that some of the apple sauce had been eaten but the trap had not been tripped. Thursday afternoon I caught a squirrel. It was lively in there and noisy when I let it go. I refilled the tuna can with apple sauce and Friday morning I woke up and found a skunk in the trap.
This has been my biggest fear. Ive hear of this happening and theres a lot of theories of how you get a skunk out of the trap without getting sprayed, but those theories, according to Farmer Dan, havent been successfully executed by anyone he personally knows.
My first step was to call Farmer Dan and share my “Plan A”. “Plan A” included tossing a blanket over the trap and then quietly opening the trap to let the skunk out. I guess if the trap is covered, the skunk doesnt see you coming. If it doesn’t see you coming, it isn’t threatened and won’t spray. Even without the blanket over the trap, the skunk appeared to be sleeping. I could see, though, that it had spent a good amount of time trying to escape. The ground underneath the trap was dug up and there was a lot of dirt in the trap.
So, I got an old blanket, tossed it over, went to yoga class, and when I got back I slowly lifted the blanket to pull the pin that keeps the release end of the trap shut. I backed off and before I could get very far the skunk scurried away without spraying. It didn’t even look back! Phew!
Farmer Dan was happy to hear I was successful. He offered to come over and execute “Plan B”, the lethal plan, if “Plan A” wasn’t successful and I’m glad we didn’t have to execute that stinky rodent. I’m also thankful for Farmer Dan. Hes a good coach and has been willing to help me out in these situations. Last fall when I told him I hadn’t killed anything bigger than a bug, he suggested since I’ve gotten this far in life without using lethal force, that I shouldn’t start. Im also glad for good advice from friends.