# Can anyone understand?



## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

I've lived in this little place for many years. Every year we had a little spotted skunk that lived here and raised her kits in our drainage culvert. She would steal a once a week egg, tomato, peas, sunflowers, and cress. She loved the cress. She paid us back by eating the mice, baby rats, and voles.
We saw her rarely and she never bothered our chicks or sprayed.
I don't know how long they live or how many generations have been here...I do know It's gone now.
She got into my neighbors greenhouse. He poisoned her. So sad that people can't share a little for the return.
Yes, I'm crying over a wild skunk...


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## pridegoethb4thefall (Mar 3, 2013)

Awwww, that is so sweet, and then so sad...
I'm sorry you lost her. I can feel your grief, and I would cry too. Gifts of nature like that don't come everyday. I'm glad you got to enjoy her for a little while. I'd say i hope one of her babies come to take her place, but I wouldn't want it to meet the same fate.

Hugs to you.


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Thank you, I'm having a hard time with these people who move to the country and want to make it a city...???
She was cute.


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## PiccoloGoat (Sep 10, 2008)

Oh no, she looked so cute 
I'm sorry that happened, how insensitive of him.


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## OwnedByTheGoats (Mar 7, 2013)

Oh no, that's terrible! We always get attached (or at least I do) to all creatures, great or small. The fact that some humans take others lives for just frankly coming into a building sickens me. At least she had a good life for the time she lived it.

*hugs*


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

That is so hard ... I cry over those things too. I had a person come over here to hunt and he got a deer. That isn't what bothered me, what bothered me was the disrespect. I respected the deer who lived here, I would sit and watch them. Beautiful creatures. But he just stuffed it in a wheelbarrow and asked me to take pictures of it as it was bleeding. I was heartbroken.

I am also upset when people poison moles and other such creatures for no good reason. Then a family who visited and talked about how their son loved to shoot songbirds ... another squirrels. Not to eat, just for sport. That is a high and unfair price to pay for the life of an animal, IMO. I love meat, but a life must ALWAYS be respected. Always. 

Well, off the soapbox I go


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

Aw, I am sorry.  She was incredibly cute. Yes, I totally understand.We have a lot of little brown rats (maybe voles, I don't know) that live around here. They sometimes eat out of the chicken feed troughs, but I don't grudge them the little grain they take. My little brother and sister and I were rewarded one day by seeing the interaction between a mother rat and her squealing babies. It was amazing and delightful.
Our dogs keep them under control, and while I'm sad when I find one they've killed, I know that we can't have an overpopulation of rats around here.
Anyone who backs up and tries to see the beauty and order in the world will have no doubt that all life is a miracle. As a bonus, they have more pleasure and peace than those who try to squeeze every drop of money and sport out of it.


> I love meat, but a life must ALWAYS be respected. Always.


You couldn't have said it better, Danielle. It's funny, a lot of those who kill their own meat seem to have more respect for life than some of those who don't.


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## .:Linz:. (Aug 25, 2011)

She was a cute little skunky! I understand, and I'm sorry.


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## still (Mar 16, 2013)

I hate it when people automatically see the negative in an animal just because it is there.......poor baby she looked really sweet


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I'm so sorry. What a beautiful skunk.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Oh no. She was a pretty thing. I dont understand it either.
We have crows here. I dont mind them a bit. Several generations of them. I throw them leftover grain & things.


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## xymenah (Jul 1, 2011)

Aww she was so pretty. Its such a shame some people can't share a little. I had a neighbor that was the worst. He shot hawks because he belived they were eating all "his" wild rabbits. The worst was when he was bragging about how he shot this huge coyote and that it didn't go down but he found bone shards and blood so he figured it would die anyway. Well it wasn't a coyote it was the male of a pair of red wolves. I was heart broken and very angry at him. I had been observing them for over a year.


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## OwnedByTheGoats (Mar 7, 2013)

I don't kill ducks because they are in a pond. I don't kill spiders because they are on a web. I don't kill rabbits because they are in my driveway. I don't kill birds because they are in the sky. I don't kill bees because they are on flowers, and I don't kill skunks because they are in my yard! I can understand what he is trying to prevent, but couldn't he have at least captured her and taken her somewhere else or something? 

Ohhhh, humans. I find myself saying this a lot.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

I dont have anything against skunks (except the one who got into my barn and scared me so bad!) but I dont like groundhogs or opossums 

my mom traps groundhogs because they cause problems by eating her garden. We then would take them far away into the protected woods and release them. My dog killed one once. when I saw its teeth I was surprised there wasnt a scratch on my dog! 

Opossums have caused issues with our chickens in the past. But most of the time if we patched up holes in the run we didnt have problems after that.


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## Trickyroo (Sep 26, 2012)

That was so very insensitive of him !! How horrible !!
I'm so sorry Goathiker :hug:
She was beautiful !
To take a life for no reason is just wrong on so many levels


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## mtmom75 (May 19, 2011)

I'm sorry. That's so sad. She was very cute and didn't deserve to die that way. 



goathiker said:


> Thank you, I'm having a hard time with these people who move to the country and want to make it a city...???
> She was cute.


^ This is exactly the problem I have with my neighbor. He moved from the city out here to the country, and then rather than adapt his lifestyle to fit the 'country life', he wants US to change to fit in with HIS standards.


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## TrinityRanch (Mar 26, 2013)

It surprises me how inhumane people, even country people, can be sometimes. We have these wild cats that we care for at our ranch (they are normal domestic shorthairs, not tigers ), and we love them a bunch. A few years ago, one of the 5-6 month old kittens died and we wanted to respect her by giving her a nice burial. Even though our property fence ends at a certain point, our legally owned property extends a few more feet (and is designated by several flags) into what our neighbor considers to be 'his' land. We buried the kitty there, covered her up all nicely, and left her. A week later we found the hole empty, and the sand placed in a neat pile next to it. It wasn't coyotes or dogs that did it. Our neighbor had _dug up _the poor little baby and taken her.

I have never spoken to him and don't plan on it. How can someone be so disrespectful that he would do that?

I am so sorry about your beautiful spotted skunk. I can honestly say that I have never seen such a pretty skunk before. I hope maybe one of her kits will return to you, and live up to its mother's reputation.


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Thank You everyone. I knew my freinds would understand. 
This neighbor has already poisoned the family of chipmunks that lived here and raised their kittens in the split stump in my back yard. My Ravens have gone from 6 to 2. My Starlings didn't come back this year, they nested under the barn eves and taught their babies to fly off the top of the barn every year. 
My wild duck showed up with 2 wives so, he's okay. My Turkey Vulture pair showed up a few days ago. The mourning doves are back. There's a feral cat living in my shed. 
I will miss my little skunk though. She was special. They are very rare little creatures and so tiny. She was only about 10 inches long. I always wished that she was tame so that I could brush out that beautiful tail. 
I have decided to put a bat coloney in my back yard. He can't hurt them, he doesn't shoot, they'll just fly around and annoy him. I'm also going to put a Mason Bee hive on his side of the yard. Hmm...anymore ideas?


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

what a pretty girl..I have never seen a spotted one. We had a family of skunks living in the basement of our church...stunk to high heaven ( excuse the pun) My husband opened the door and gentle scooted them all out with a broom...while I hid be hind the door..lol..I m mean they are cute but their perfume is much to be desired....Off the ran into the wooded area lol....didn't even lift their tail to him. Maybe God whispered to them "don't spray the preacher" lol ...sorry for your loss Goathiker....truly an unnecessary death caused by ignorance..


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Thank You Cathy, I would love to meet you someday so we could sit and argue about goat care. What a fun day that would be.
The stinky striped skunks are Civit Cats. They are not nearly so polite and like to eat your chickens. This little thing was polite and the only time we could smell them was when her kits got mad at each other. 
We are all stewards of this earth. I do my best.


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## Jodi_berg (Oct 29, 2012)

That pisses me off,humans forget that the wildlife have as much right to exist as we do. Our neighbor keeps shooting the red foxes because they root in his garden,which means their killing rodents. It makes me so mad. His dog escaped and showed up here a while ago,so I called and told him and said you know I have free ranging livestock,he said oh the dogs nice don't worry. In the back of mind I thought for your sake I hope so or it will be last time the dog shows up. No tolerance for Mother Nature,but I should tolerate his pets! I'm sorry you lost your skunk friend. I had a customer poison a raccoon I had rehabbed and released. I can tell you the relationship was over at that point and she's no longer a camper here!


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## Trickyroo (Sep 26, 2012)

I would overwhelm him with all the other animals that beautiful skunk kept in check . Unfortunately it would be a death sentence to them 
So although a good idea , its not doable.

That is just so sad , I keep thinking about beautiful the little skunk was
and how you watched her daily life . 
What a terrible loss for everybody. Its a shame how some people dont understand , cherish and see the beauty in nature .
They only see their sad selfs on this planet not anything or anyone else.


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## Pixie13 (Mar 2, 2013)

So, so sorry to hear about your little skunk. Maybe another will come along again someday. It is really neat how you both got along so well and shared with one another.


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

T


> hank You Cathy, I would love to meet you someday so we could sit and argue about goat care. What a fun day that would be.


LOL... I think we would quickly become great friends...


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

> what a pretty girl..i have never seen a spotted one. We had a family of skunks living in the basement of our church...stunk to high heaven ( excuse the pun) my husband opened the door and gentle scooted them all out with a broom...while i hid be hind the door..lol..i m mean they are cute but their perfume is much to be desired....off the ran into the wooded area lol....didn't even lift their tail to him. Maybe god whispered to them "don't spray the preacher" lol ...sorry for your loss goathiker....truly an unnecessary death caused by ignorance..


lololol! :rofl:



> This neighbor has already poisoned the family of chipmunks that lived here and raised their kittens in the split stump in my back yard.


How utterly heartless!  I would move away. Please don't annoy him; it will make him want to kill animals more than ever!


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## Axykatt (Feb 1, 2013)

She was so pretty; what a crying shame. :'(


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## MrKamir (Nov 2, 2009)

She was pretty. I haven't seen a skunk around here for awhile. My dogs bark and keep critters away from the chickens. But sometimes the chickens go over the fence and meet their fate and get ate by coyotes or whatever. Can't do anything about it, it's part of life. We have some land that we can't use because there is a creek that goes thru half our land. Our neighbor wants to buy it. But I know if we sell it to him, he is going to mow down all the trees. Then where will all the critters go? When we moved out here, it felt secluded because of all the trees. Now 2/3 of the trees are gone cause he knocked them down on his land. I used to live in the city. Got sick of all the concrete. I never want to move back to that kind of life. I wish people had more respect for land and creatures.


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## nchen7 (Feb 25, 2013)

i'm so sorry for your loss. the relationship you two shared was beautiful. *hugs*


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## lottsagoats (Dec 10, 2012)

I try to let the wild animals live their lives on my little place. I love them all, even the rats and mice. However, once the rats move into my house, I have to do something because they are destroying it. 

This past winter I stored the days worth of loose hay against the back of the goat pen. This spring I cleaned out the area to put up a pen for a pregnant doe with founder. As I was forking out the packed loose hay, I discovered a nest of baby rats. i gathered them up and put them in a corner not too far from where they had been so momma rat would find them. I had done that before and had Momma take them away to a new nest. Well, I thought I had them hidden and protected. Later that afternoon I found bits and pieces of baby rats all over my back yard. My 2 Pyrenees bitches had found the nest, killed the rat pups and dragged them all over the yard. Made me very sad. I used to raise domestic rats and mice.

Not too long ago I went to do the night feeding. I opened the garbage can I use for grain to scoop out the grain. I noticed something odd in the middle of the barrel. I looked closely and saw a tiny baby mouse. We looked at each other, she had a kernal of corn on her paws, which she had been eating. I scooped her and the corn up and set her outside in a place safe from the dogs. She was so cute with those big eyes and ears.

I do have coyotes in the area but my dogs keep them away just by being in the yard. Same with the foxes who used ot eat my chickens and ducks. I never shot them, but I did take off running after the fox who killed my birds! Chased them thought the woods screaming at them. They never came back!


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## Moonlight (Mar 10, 2013)

It sickens me, too. I worked for these people who had a little colony of squirrels. All they did was try and get some of the walnuts that would fall on the ground for their winter storage. There were more than enough walnuts and various other nuts. Sometimes I guess they would get into the cornfield, but I have a hard time believing that. Anyway, everytime they saw even one little squirrel they would hunt it down, even if its home was well away from their house, kill it, and just leave it there. It sickened me.


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## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

Goathiker~ so sorry for your loss. What a lovely lil gal! 

We have a female bobwhite quail that follows the neighbors 2 guinea hens into the yard...my mom and I were worried something would get her over the winter...but so far she's still here.....I so understand your loss and frustration! :hug:


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## WalshKidsGoats (Nov 27, 2012)

I'm sorry!  She was darling! I hate it when people senselessly kill animals too... There's a time and a place for it but not when the animal is not causing any problems. Around here the shepherds graze their sheep near the edge of "civilization", right out by the desert. This really bothers me, they go out in a plane and shoot the coyotes from the air! They seem to think that all coyotes are bad so they way overdo it, sometimes patroling way, way farther up into the hills than is neccassary. After they did this last year (I think it was the first year they did it), we had the hugest crop of rabbits ever! It was unbelievable! Since this is a farming community this had a big impact on our crops. Rabbits can eat a ton! The rabbit population exploded because there main predator was gone... sigh, human stupidity at it's best... I could go on and on! I am fine with killing animals for food or if they are harming your animals or garden, but not for fun or just because their species sometimes causes problems.

Quality Nigerian Dwarf Goats
www.walshkidsgoats.com
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## serenityfarmnm (Jan 6, 2013)

Humanity is (for the most part) a plague, a virus & a parasite on this earth. I am ashamed to say that until about 4 years ago I was as guilty of this as anyone. The funny thing is, because I did dog rescue, I considered myself better & more humane. When health issues 'forced' me to start looking into a more 'natural' existence I realized just what horrid things we as humans are guilty of. 

When it comes to mother Earth, we are not very "humane" Perhaps the definition of Human needs to be revisited.


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## Trickyroo (Sep 26, 2012)

I recently had the pleasure of meeting a family or small group of opossums one night. My group of dogs was surprised , yes one just came out I the open and practically tripped over one of the dogs that was sleeping by the barn. The dogs were exhausted from their daily run your head off games and they all collapsed. Anyway , the poor thing did its bet to "play dead". I called the dogs and went towards the house.
With all the dogs away , my husband and I went to check on the opossum. It was gone , no surprise . We looked and looked for it ,just to make sure it wasnt hurt or anything. Given the fact that it just came out into the open with seven dogs laying around. No sign of it except some poop it left as a parting gift. My hubs went back in but I stayed behind an just sat at the picnic table quietly. Sure enough ,I hear growling and rustling of the leaves behind the feed shed. Out came five oppusoms running around having a nice game of tag, rolling and flipping each other. It was so funny to watch them , lol. Then they would come right up to me and look at me ! I got a bit nervous after seeing their teeth and knowing the diseases they carry. Im sure someone is feeding them. They seemed to be looking for food from me , like I was going to put a dish down any moment for them. I didnt like what i was seeing.
I'm convinced my neighbor is feeding them. I wish she wouldn't do that.
They carry lepto and other really bad things that my dogs can contract and us too. My husband lost a dog to lepto , it was a horrible death.
We vaccinate for it ,but it there are strains out there it doesn't cover.
And basically it just lessens the severity of it , doesnt " stop" it .
I wish they would just let them do what oppusoms do , and not put food out for them and basically train them that humans are nothing to fear.
Because we are . I would never look to kill them. But if I have to we will trap them and set them free in one of the many wooded areas we have here not close to homes or other human activity. 
Sorry for the long story ,but I found it timely and appropriate for this thread. Did I say these animals were cute, in their own way


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