The New & Improved Dasek Family

The New & Improved Dasek Family
Clive Nicholas Dasek (2 days old)

The Dynamic Duo

The Dynamic Duo
Daddy Longlegs and Sassy Sunshine sketched by Stewball

Friday, June 12, 2009

The story of our little friend Oreo


So here I am minding my business walking the trail when Daddy Long Legs stopped up ahead. All I can see is a black ball in the middle of the trail at his feet. I yelled out "what is it Nick?" He yelled back, "A baby skunk!" The little skunk looked dead as he laid there not moving with flies buzzing around him, but once Stewball our hiking buddy tried pushing him off the trail his tail began to twitch. At first the guys started saying that he must not have died too long ago since his nerves are still making his tail move, but within seconds the critter started moving around to let us know he was indeed still alive. We all took a few giant steps back before realizing that spraying us was the last thing on his mind. The skunk was too weak and was curled up into a little ball once again. As we looked at each other, the question that came out was "what should we do with him?". Daddy Long Legs thought we should just leave him, but Stewball and I thought we should 'rescue' him. We soon found out that we are completely uneducated in wildlife rescue. Stewball wrapped his bandanna around and carried the little guy in the palm of his hand. We named him Oreo after about half of a mile. The first road crossing from where we found him was 1.5 miles, so we thought we could call animal rescue from there. After trying to get a signal for over a half an hour another hiker walked up. She was kind enough to let us borrow her phone. I finally got in touch with a trail coordinator who said to leave the skunk since they're pretty self sufficient at a young age and he'll either bite or spray you if you try to handle him. Oreo had tried neither and was actually trying to burrow into Daddy Long Legs' shoe while he still had it on. The trail coordinator also said that if wildlife rescue were to come get him, they'd first need to get a permit from the national forest. In short, we did what we could and it was time to say goodbye to our little white-striped friend. We found him a cozy little bed off the trail in some leaves. He was curled up into a ball sleeping when we left him. It stormed that night and we all thought of little Oreo. Hopefully he grows up to be the best skunk he can be, and more importantly, learns how to spray people like us who try to pick him up and move him. Good luck little guy!

1 comment:

  1. Nice Story, well told. Steve and I had a good laugh reading it.

    ReplyDelete