Okay.. So I know most of you have been waiting for Leon.. I will throw you a bone instead of making you wait through another Chicken introduction.. Todays Bluebird Farm introduction is Leon the Striped Skunk. I was driving in downtown Northampton coming home from my 25th high school reunion and I smelled skunk - the strong kind - the kind you smell when a skunk has been hit by a car. I started to cross a bridge with my husband following behind and I see this teensy white thing tottering along the curb, too small to climb over it and veering in and out of the road.. I quickly pulled over as did my confused husband (who always knows its a very bad thing when I pull over)... I knew that seeing a Skunk baby this small by itself is unnatural, mother Skunks keep their babies in a tight single file line as they have very poor eyesight and need to scent track in order to stay together.. Hesitantly I grabbed him like a kitten he squealed and made a little spray but made no effort to move or bite so before I got hit by a car on the bridge I ran back to the car with him. Once I got to the car I had nowhere to contain him but my gorgeous new artsy top hat I had just gotten at an arts festival... In he went. When I got home I treated him for dehydration and fed him well, in the morning I treated him for parasites and set up his quarantine. His tests all came up clear and after his waiting period he was deemed clear of diseases. But I had no other Skunks to put him with and it was evident that this baby was desperate for a mothers love. So like many other wild babies, you have until they wean to be a loving mother to them before they imprint. After they wean its hands off..... Apparently thats not so with Skunks. They imprint... FAST. And the next thing you know youve made the deadly mistake of making a wild animal love you. I immediately tried to back off with any handling and talking to him.. I even put him in with other babies that eventually came that Spring. It became obvious that this baby would have none of it. I did it.. The worst thing a rehabber could do.. I imprinted on a healthy releasable wild animal. Leon as he came to be named followed me everywhere just like a baby follows its mother.. To feed chickens, water horses... His stubby little legs keeping up the best he could. I would walk that Summer with a parade of babies behind me. Two baby Turkey rescues, two goslings and Leon.. Single file.. Now everyone has grown, the Turkeys are nearing the end of their short factory Farm life, the geese have flown away, and Leon is now a semi wild Skunk who has taken up a girlfriend ( another skunk I released) I still provide him with food and shelter but he is free to come and go. And like the mother of a teenager with the keys to the car I worry when he isnt home in the morning, I waggle my finger at him in warning to steer clear of Mr. Taloras garbage and to watch for cars, and like the teenager it falls on deaf ears.. All because of the greedy mistake I made of wanting to love him too much.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 12:12:17 +0000
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