A backyard scare..

Just took Diamond out for her last lil bit of business before bed.

our backyard althou fenced, I still go out with her for praise/treats.

Well in her circulling to do her business.. a LARGE SKUNK pops out from under the liliac bushes. & seems to head straight for Diamond...:eek:

Diamond sees it &is not exactly sure what to do.. (she gets a NO! for chasing our cats)

I scoop her up to get away & theres a 2nd one blocking my entrance into the house. :yell::frustrated: plus its pouring & I have an umbrella in hand as its POURING here. Thanks Ike! (I am North of Toronto BTW)

I am stopped dead in tracks & have 1 skunk practailly at my feet & one about 10 feet away still in my way to get back into the house!!

not only that Diamond is wriggling to get down!! arrrgg

I am figuring I can use umbrella to block skunk spray:yuck:

as I am standing there barely breathing & trying to get Diamond settled & stay dry:rolleyes: for close to 15minutes)

Next door neighbour comes out on his deck & I kinda plead with my eyes to him he acknowledges & heads into house & then comes into my yard with looks like leftover dinner on a pieplate.. his noise frightens the one blocking my way into house WHEW!!!!! but the 2nd one has me about 2feet away & has his beady eyes on me or Diamond not sure LOL..

he walks away from him kinda to the side & places Pie plate by window waits till he smells it & heads for it & escorts me back into house!!!

YAY for neighbours
BOOO as I have to take Diamond to front (I think) to do business at night..
(which is still very scary to her) mind you everything scares her.. inclu our Ice machine & the printer:confused:

What a night!!!

Someone get me a drink pls! LOL

The good news is that in another month or so, the skunks will be hibernating and you'll have your backyard back! :thumbs up

It's absolutely amazing how adaptable skunks are. I used to live about a block from my third shift job in a largish city. One warm early spring night I was walking to work (about 11:30) and I saw what looked like a very large squirrel trundling down the sidewalk toward me. When it got under the street light, I saw the stripe... :eek:

Okay...no problem...cross the street...

Darned if there wasn't one ambling down the other sidewalk, too! :eek:

I walked to work the rest of the way down the middle of the street! :laughing:

What's so weird is that the whole time I'd been living on that side of town (probably 7 years) I'd never seen any skunks before. I think that night they were newly awake from hibernating and still groggy or else they would have been more secretive. :shrug:

I'm glad none of you got sprayed! And it sure was nice of your neighbor to risk life and stench for you! :angel:

Eek :eek:, thank dog for your neighbour :thumbs up.

I saw a skunk (looked like a young one) bumbling around the cat dishes outside, just last week. Both the cat and the skunk were totally unconcerned (or clueless :p) and the skunk didn't challenge him for his food either. I was in total awe.
A friend of mine in Vancouver says the West End is swarming with skunks. Some people feed them (crazy skunk ladies, there's a new concept).
The more wildlife around me, the better I like it, though not sure if I would have been so insouciant accompanied by a curious dog!

I felt I was right there with you as I read along! :laughing::laughing::laughing:

We live on a small acreage and have neighbors on either side of us. Well when we moved in, the one neighbor, we found out, used to feed whatever came onto their property. Guess what? She was feeding skunks! They moved to another province, but somehow the skunks stayed :wall:
For about 3 springs in a row we always had a momma skunk who gave birth under our back deck. The babies are pretty harmless...in fact, you could walk right up to them. So that's what I did... walked right up and scooped them up in a bucket, then called my other neighbor who came and got them and relocated them wayyyy further out. He got his hands on a trap so I got it set up facing the deck and baited it and waited. Worked like a charm. Called the neighbor and over he came.... he took one look and said "that's the mother!". I was like "woooohoooo! good deal, now we can get rid of her too!". So he tells me we need to throw a tarp over the trap cuz he's not transporting it uncovered. I get a tarp which he automatically takes out of my hand and starts nervously walking around the trap trying to figure out how to get it on without getting sprayed. Good lord! So I said to give me the tarp back and I walked calmly right up to the trap and placed the tarp over it. The poor man's wife almost had an attack and asked me if there was anything that I actually was afraid of. LOL I told her skunks won't spray unless they're cornered and feel threatened. You could tell by this skunk's body language that it was quite relaxed and not feeling threatened at all, but people acting nervous around it would eventually alert it to possible danger.
Then I told her about the time I had a pet skunk and how they are actually quite loving.... they love to curl up on your lap just like a cat.

But yes, having one block your entry to the house would be a little unnerving to say the least. And scooping up Diamond was the best thing you could have ever done.... or both of you would be having a tomato juice, tomato soup bath :laughing:
And hooray for your neighbor too! :thumbs up

omg.... you are SO lucky not to have been sprayed!! I would of been freaking out... I mean skunks are certainly cute lil buggers, but I'd like to go my whole life w/out actually getting as close as you got! lol

I hope miss diamond got a few extra treats for not barreling after the lil critters!