Skunk Invasion!

Yes, this is a true story. I was sitting here on my laptop lighting beacons when I hear the dryer buzzer go off. So I say goodnite, log off, and am finishing up online stuff when I notice a black and white butt disappearing behind the corner. My first thought is, "When did Marlene and Raphael (the owners) get a cat??" Then it hit me, and I'm thinking, "Oh crap! What now???" Go I give Raphael a call. Mind you, its after 11:00, and they both have to get up at like 5AM for the first day of school tomorrow (they're both teachers down in the Bronx), so they were not happy about the call. However, once I got Raphael's attention with, "Sorry to wake you, but I've got a skunk in my bathroom," he ran down stairs and was ready to go.

So how'd the skunk get in. Well, the weather here right now is absolutely wonderful; 80 during the day and 65 at night with blues skies and starry nights. So during the day, we open all the windows and doors, including the garage doors (I have to enter my apartment through the garage). Normally, at night, they close the doors. I don't do it cause I don't know when they're coming or going. Well tonight, they forgot to close the doors, and in wandered my little friend.

At first, we blocked off all exits except for the way back outside. Not wanting to startle the thing and have him spray, we then stood around hoping he'd wander back out. He didn't. He did take a complete tour of the bathroom, including visiting the shower, before curling up behind the toilet. Finally, Raphael decides to go in. He takes one cautious step into the bathroom, sticks his head in, screams, and jumps back out. When he leaned in, a moth attacked his nose, lol! Anyways, Raphael decides to go tap the opposite side of the wall while I keep an eye on skunk. The skunk kind of looked around nervously but didn't move. Next idea, I move to the far side of the bathroom and start trying to gently prod the skunk out with a broom. No effect. Raphael decides he's going to kill the thing by clubbing it on the head. I veto that idea, both not wanting skunk brain splattered all over my bathroom and not wanting to see the thing killed (wasn't his fault he was there, after all). Instead, we go get Pokey's cage (Pokey is the family dog). We line it up to one side of the toilet, then start prodding from the other. The skunk [i]still[/i] doesn't move. Finally, Raphael goes in with the broom head and literally sweeps the critter into the cage. I tip in up and lock it closed. We carry outside and set it free :)

Through the whole thing, the skunk, unbelievably, amazingly, did [i]not[/i] spray. We think he tried to once, but we're guessing he was too young to have that defense mechanism developed yet. You can decide when you see the pictures (yes, I've got pictures ;)). The bathroom does smell a little funny, but its barely noticeable, so I'm thinking it's wild animal smell, not spray. Either way, a little Glade air freshener took care of it. Raphael and Marlene are back in bed. I gave Heather a call just because I absolutely had to share. She was glad I did and was giggling uncontrollably as I told her the story. She's off to bed again, and now I'm spreading the story around the net. Hopefully everyone enjoys the story, hehe.

OK, now for the pictures ;D

1) Here you can just barely see his head poking out from behind the toilet. This was my first tentative picture.


2) Here he is balled up in corner, trying to avoid capture.


3) Here's the best shot. He's in his cage, posing for one last photo before release.