How To Remove A Skunk From Your Live Trap Without Being Skunked

           Once upon a time there was a man named Larry and he lived on a small poultry farm called Chicken Scratch Poultry.  Larry was always up for a new challenge and his dear sweet wife Angie was always following behind with the camera.  So here goes the story of how they removed a skunk from their live trap without getting skunked. 

The Chicken farm often has a skunk problem, Angie's poor house dog Rusty was skunked twice last winter and once, so far this winter.  It took a good six months for this smell to go away and made for some unpleasant days for all.
When walking around in the dark on the farm, the last thing Angie wanted to walk up on and startle was a skunk.  To remedy the problem farmer Larry set the live trap, this is the only kind of trap that could be used since their are other pets running around the farm.  Well it didn't take long and Larry had a skunk in the trap.  The last skunk caught he put down while still in the trap.  When he did that the skunk sprayed, and months later the his trap still has an odor.  A stink so bad that he could not catch another animal in the trap for about a year.  So, Larry and his sweet wife did some research on how to transport a skunk, in their live trap, away from the house without being skunked.  Angie found all kinds of information on the subject and Larry was ready for the challenge.  Angie, armed with her trusty camera was right behind him..."I've got your back dear!", she said.

This is Mr. Stinky

Courageous Larry, notice how he keeps his head low... 

Angie watched in amazement as Larry crept very slowly up to the cage with a blanket.  His dear wife snapped pictures and gave stop and go hand signals to let him know what the skunks tail was doing.   (You really should have all the hand signals worked out before starting this process so the person operating the blanket doesn't need to yell "What!"  That upsets the skunk!)  

Once Larry was all the way up to the cage he very slowly lowered a blanket onto the cage and completely covered the skunk.  Next Larry took one side of the cage and his sweet wife took the other end and they lifted it onto a board.  

Larry and Angie loaded the skunk onto the 4 wheeler and transported him down the gravel road and far away from their property.

Once they found a good spot to release the skunk.  They very gently lowered him off the 4 wheeler, onto to the ground.  Now Larry began the process of very carefully removing the blanket.  As you can tell from this photo, the camera operator was standing way back.

Once that cage door was open it didn't take long for Mr. Stinky to head for the tall grass.  This isn't a very good picture but no one was asking him to slow down for a better one either.

The whole process worked out very well, Larry was able to sleep in his own bed that night and the skunk is no longer hanging around the barn hunting for eggs. 

Have a great day and don't try this at home!

The Chicken Scratch Poultry Farm