How Long Can a Trapped Skunk Live Without Food or Water

When I went out to feed the lawn chickens that morning, I was stunned to see a skunk sitting in the trap I had laid by the back of the befouled near the pen gate.  I hadn't officially set information technology there to trap anything.  The back barn door had been locked, and then I had just put the trap downwards instead of putting it all the manner away.  The fox had managed to steal the bait (dead chicken, since we knew it liked those…  ) terminal fall without springing it, so it had yet been set and I hadn't bothered known how to release it.  The dog, Kiwi, wouldn't fit in it and I would run across the trap every day, on the chance that a true cat got curious.

Well, that explained the suspicious digging I had noticed by the gate over the weekend.  Fortunately, the wire and the bricks had impeded entry, but the skunk had not given up.  Information technology was probably exploring for a new earthworks angle and accidentally walked into the trap.  It besides explained the new dog perfume.  Did you know that a dog who has skunk spray oils on it can olfactory property like burning rubber?  She must non have gotten a personal application, though, considering information technology was partly her lack of distress that had us mystified virtually the aroma when we first noticed it ii hours earlier.  She had been let in the house, all the way to my sleeping room.  Oops.

Very slowly, I moved a couple of feet closer to the skunk, watching it intently.  It was, of grade, also watching me.  It turned to fully face me with its wicked, beady little eyes, then hunched its dorsum.  I backed upward again and wondered how long it would take a skunk to die without food and water.  The problem with that thought was that information technology was right next to the chicken pen.  I needed to go in and feed them.  I also didn't want them or the dog sprayed again.

Then, being the rational, logical person that I am, I ran into the house yelling, "You are NOT going to believe information technology!  You are NEVER going to believe it!" I didn't keep the girls in suspense long.  I was soon blurting out,"I trapped a skunk!" So, helplessly, "What do y'all do with a trapped skunk!?" My husband was on the other side of the earth.  My sons were working or in college classes. Maybe my dad would accept an idea.

My dad told me to telephone call animal command while he looked things up on the cyberspace.  Canyon County Animal Control does not bargain with skunks.  They suggested a business chosen Nuisance Nabbers.  When I chosen, the business owner said the accuse was $95 to observe the brute and $60 to trap it.  For me, since I already had it contained, it would be $95.  (I'm guessing that amount covers their fuel costs.)  They would either release the fauna or euthanize information technology.  He was very nice, simply they couldn't exist here until 4 or five PM.  I needed to feed the chickens before then.

Presently my dad chosen me dorsum and said he had some skilful plans forming.  Nosotros would need a tarp and a lawnmower. He was on his fashion over. When he arrived, he wanted to show me a youtube video of how someone walked up to cover the skunk in the trap.  This person proceeded to accept the skunk out into the wild and shoot it.  We would utilize the lawnmower exhaust, piped in under the tarp to euthanize information technology.  All we needed to notice was something to be the "pipe."

I idea of the shop vac hose, which my dad agreed would probably work.  Nosotros propped it upwardly on a brick so that it would funnel the exhaust from the front of the lawnmower.  My dad let the tarp hang total length in front of him and slowly approached the trapped skunk.  This was challenging with the gusty current of air.  The skunk watched but didn't act aggressively.  Finally, the tarp was laid over the whole trap and my dad could grasp the trap handle through the tarp.  He carried it a few feet, to where we could drive up the lawn mower.  We were concerned that if nosotros moved the skunk too much, it might get agitated.

A few bricks were strategically placed to hold down the tarp and help it contain the fumes more effectively. Nosotros turned on the lawn mower and the shop vac hose melted inside a few minutes. Time to wait for a new pipage.

I knew that my husband had various pipes around in his workshop, but for this, the piping needed to be fairly wide, and information technology needed to be a footling flexible.  Lo and behold, he had a three-foot section of old dryer vent tubing laying in the shop.  He knew it would be needed i 24-hour interval.  He would be particularly gratified that I was the i who ended up needing information technology.

The dryer vent tubing was a expert fit over the hole that the frazzle came out of, but it wasn't a sealed system.  We waited well-nigh forty minutes, and then gingerly pulled back the tarp to check on the skunk.  It was laying down, merely I thought I saw rhythmic breathing.  My dad thought information technology might just be the wind bravado its fur.  Either mode, we were gear up for a dejeuner intermission.

Afterwards lunch, we went to see if the skunk was "withal dead."  No, but it was very relaxed.  The euthanizing process seemed like it was taking a very long fourth dimension with the lawnmower.  Since the skunk seemed to no longer exist a level red alert, we ventured to deport it a couple of hundred anxiety to the truck.  The dryer vent tubing was a PERFECT fit over the truck exhaust pipe.  10 minutes later, the skunk was peacefully euthanized.

Since this was the 2nd time it had died, my dad suggested that information technology would be just every bit well to go out it in the trap, covered with the tarp overnight.  We moved it to an expanse that the domestic dog could not admission and parted ways until the adjacent morning.  When nosotros observed it again, it had non moved a musculus.  We double bagged it for the trash.

Idaho Fish and Game say that skunks fall into the category of nuisance unprotected predators. Information technology seems somewhat humorous to me that the code specifies that you lot have to have a permit to release them alive on government property.  Permission is likewise required to release them on private property.  I guess no ane really wants skunks?  Law allows the states (thankfully!) to deal with such animals to protect private property and assure personal safety.

The trap is dorsum behind the befouled, fix and waiting.  I am going to put something like tuna fish in it.  I think I might be able to take care of a skunk myself next fourth dimension.  I should probably claim that dryer vent tubing for my own and put information technology together with a tarp as a skunk euthanizing kit. And, by the way, one of my daughters cut and spliced the shop vac hose and it works fine.  She might take after her dad.

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Source: https://blog.mydbsupply.com/2013/04/22/how-to-euthanize-a-trapped-skunk-with-household-motors/