Pets!

[justintime]

we have had a few pet deer and a racoon - never a skunk! I would be super paranoid as once skunked..... your never the same

[justintime]

[Chuck Whitlock]

Skunks on the other hand I would trust with my life, so long as food wasn't involved, they'll always choose food. I can take a totally wild skunk who's never been handled and it cuddled up and loving to be petted/scratched inside half an hour. typically I'm covered in skunk spray as well, but the wife and I don't mind that. I chase the little buggers down anytime we come across them. Corner them, get sprayed (usually), slowly start scratching their backs and holding the tail down. If I've got good gloves I grab em, and then scratch and pet them. usually within a few minutes they relax. The best part is when you let them go. They get 3 or so feet away and immediately turn wild again. But having taken them in as pets I know you could take a 2 yr old and tame him down pretty decent. You wouldn't get the scent glands out though. you have to do that when they are just babies. 3-4 weeks old usually

I've got a cop friend here who's family used to raise/breed skunks and bobcats. He was saying that they were able to get lavender coats by breeding two particular colors.

[Slavex]

Down in the USA there are breeders who get all sorts of cool colors for skunks, pinks, blues, reverse stripe, you name it. In Canada we aren't legally allowed to keep them as pets, I found that out, after I got mine. I had to use our fur farm licence at first and then obtained a movie animal licence for the kids. If it wasn't so heartbreaking when they die we'd still have a bunch, but we both got waaay too attached to them, my wife especially. Of all the animals I've owned over 40 years, skunks are the only ones who I bonded with so strongly. They are just amazing animals. If I had the property I'd have wild ones and pet ones, probably dozens of them.

[justintime]

How long do they live? How do they compare to dogs or cats in trainability and maintenance

[HCM]

Things that make me go "Grrrrr.."

Dog of war: Taliban claims to have captured military canine

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/02...g-report-says/

[SeriousStudent]

I'd be incredibly happy if SGT Bergdahl came home.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowe_Bergdahl

If he brought home the British MWD, that would be a bonus as well.

[Slavex]

I've met skunks that lived to 17yrs and heard of a couple making 19. But ours only made 7ys (Damsel), our first boy Samson (Dams brother) only made 4 years. Turned out the diet we were feeding them wasn't anywhere near right. They are a true omnivore and need that kind of diet. One of the other reasons we probably won't do it again, felt awful finding out we did that. While in the wild they will often live only a few years, I had some wild ones on our farm that I knew to be 10 or so. Great big boys and one fat female. They "hated" me, I'd chase em down whenever I caught them out in the open and play with them. Stacey would always laugh when I came home, sticking to high heaven (lived in a condo then, the neighbors hated me sometimes), snot dripping out of my nose, eyes still running, covered in spray. Ahh the old days. Funny how they'd only sort of run from me, stopping and looking back. I am pretty sure they enjoyed. Damsel used to chase us around the house biting and trying to spray us, then we'd chase her, then it would reverse, she'd go for hours sometimes, and then just stop, crawl into your lap and fall asleep.

[HCM]

I'd be incredibly happy if SGT Bergdahl came home.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowe_Bergdahl

If he brought home the British MWD, that would be a bonus as well.

Of course and we would do whatever is necessart to recover sgt Bergdahl, Sad as that dog looks in that picture, you can't justify risking lives to recover him. However, if his GPS was still working, I would drop a JDAM - because / Old Yeller.

[BaiHu]

If you haven't seen it before, it's pretty good:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/dog_paradox

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