Canadian wildlife officials are looking for a brave driver prepared for a 2,200 mile trip to take a stowaway skunk back to her home in California.
But the skunk, who survived a seven-day journey across the United States and into Canada without food and water, after being accidentally locked away in a transport truck, is having a hard time finding someone to give her a ride home.
“We can never give a no-spray guarantee, of course,” said Nathalie Karvonen, executive director at the Toronto Wildlife Center, which has been caring for the skunk since January 5, referring to the black-and-white striped animal’s foul-smelling defense mechanism.
“It would have be somebody who would be prepared for that possibility.”
Contact the Toronto Wildlife Center at 1-416-631-0662.
Yes — if I was traveling from point-to-point in this tale — I would volunteer.
Yes — if I was traveling from point-to-point in this tale — I would volunteer.
Meee Toooooooooooooooo ……..
Indulge my curiosity…
We don’t have skunks here in Portugal… But I’ve always read and seen on TV they were supposed to smell really, really bad… But just how bad? Is it the foulest smell on Earth? Can you compare it to anything? I’d live to know what a supposed volunteer would be risking. If anybody answers, thanks 🙂
Miguel — you may have civet-cats/palm cats in your neck of the woods. Though not cats, they also secrete musk-based defense. Same idea.
2. My dog was “skunked” recently. She ran into the house and rubbed it onto the furniture. The smell is hard to describe, but so pungent it makes your eyes water. It takes weeks for it to completely go away. My wife swears it hasnt gone away months later. I can smell it right now, just from memory. A dogs sense of smell is so much keener than a humans that it must be painful. It is one of the foulest smells on earth, maybe only death smells worse. I was once involved in towing a beached whale carcass off a North Carolina beach, and that was almost as bad, but that smell goes away.
One of my neighbors had a skunk crawl up their dryer vent. They heard it crawling in the tube between the vent and the dryer. He pulled the whole tube off of the dryer, not knowing what was inside and took it outside. He rolled it into the road and the skunk popped out and let loose a barrage inspired by the Shock and Awe campaign. Fortunately my neighbor was able to evade the spray, but the road stank for two weeks.
The little critters get everywhere!
Is it checked for rabies?
If a beached whale smells almost as bad, than it must be really bad… I think the worst smell I ever smelt was a cat that had been lying dead for some 2 weeks under the summer sun… I almost puked on site… If a skunk is worse than that, than it should be carried in some sort of pickup truck – you could just hose wash the back of the truck, I think… Maybe at the back of a veeeeryyy loooong TIR truck (TIRs are those huge trucks with one or two trailers here in Europe)
What do you do when you encounter a skunk close-up in the woods? Act like a tree. They have very poor eyesight and for obvious reasons they can’t smell anything. They’re not particularly smart, either. An aquantiance tells me he had one walk almost over his shoes, oblivious to the danger.
Some time ago, I read something about a guy who was apparently the first good chemist to work out a solution to skunk smell. Tomato juice doesn’t work, but I barely recall that it was simple to make from stuff around the house. Anyone have a link?
There are some rare people with no sense of smell, who would be perfect for this job.
Oh, and Miguel, worse than the Paris Metro in July. :).
I happen to have a very sensitive sense of smell…..
There was a Mythbusters episode about skunk’s smell, it seems the only good remedy is normal off-the-shelf cleaners, detergents, deodorants…
8. Yes, the key is hydrogen Peroxide, baking soda, and common dish soap. It’s not 100 percent, but it workes well. With the peroxide, it foams up like crazy, its the foam the pulls the smell out of the dogs fur.
http://lavplourde.tripod.com/skunk/
Miguel : hosing down the truck will not get ride of the smell. It would only spread it. Had a dog who got sprayed. After 3 baths like #10 described did the smell start to go away.. even then weeks later you could still somewhat smell it. Pray that one never gets into your home.
That Little stinker….
Sheesh! Do any of you guys watch Mythbusters?
http://tinyurl.com/2sjvze
Oh and:
http://tinyurl.com/v2d8q
I was surprised that Myth Busters claim vinegar, baking soda, and dish washing liquid work the best. I had always believed tomato juice worked, but I was wrong.
Miguel, it isn’t the worst smell imaginable, but it is in the worst three. It makes your eyes water and will gag you if you are close. You will definitely remember the smell.
Some where long long ago I heard or read that skunk spray is alkaline. Some time later a friends dog got blasted and he started talking about going to the store to get tomato juice. Tomatoes are acidic, so is vinegar and he had that. So Ed (the dog in question) got doused in vinegar. Then a rinse and a nice shampoo. After he dried off you had to stick your nose in his fur to smell the skunk odour. Could the shampoo have been enough? We weren’t interested in experimenting so much as results. The more the better.
17. May be alkaline but it sure works like ammonia.
I would be truly honored to escort the little Lady home.
Thanks for this story Eideard….I needed one of these.
I’ve heard about having to bath the dog in tomato juice after getting sprayed by a skunk.
To #2 in Portugal. They really, really stink. You can be driving down the highway and smell one for days that was hit by a car. It makes you gag.
I can’t think of the right words to describe it. It is unique, and you will never forget it. It is not “purtrid”, like poo or sewage. It kind of reminds of that horrible smell you get at a women’s hair salon, 10 times worse.