About a week ago I scratched my cornea helping to clean my neighbor’s front yard. She’s older and I noticed some pulled plants drying on the front lawn. After bagging those, I was pulling some dead matter from the yucca. While reaching for that last bit, poke! Luckily, not serious.
The following week, when a skunk got trapped in her window well, I had some serious reservations about how far I would go to assist. I felt bad for the animal, but still… skunk spray! After confirming the skunk was, indeed, trapped in the window well, I tried to adjust a basket somebody else had put there. I think it was for the skunk to climb out. However, every time I tried to get close, the skunk pointed her bum at me aiming to spray.
Then I called the City to report the trapped animal. It was a Saturday so I wasn’t sure how long it would take for someone to come. In the meantime, I googled about skunks to give her some food. Learning they eat nuts and fruits, I gently tossed walnuts and a plum into the window well.
By this time, the City came. Within minutes the animal was freed! I watched the whole rescue. Maybe the most fascinating part was that the city worker only wore a regular pair of latex gloves. No special clothing, no face shield, nothing protective really. The skunk sprayed a lot during the rescue filling the air with noxious, pungent fumes. But luckily, I avoided a direct hit.
What struck me most about this whole situation was that people knew the skunk was trapped in the window well on Thursday. Somehow, I didn’t get this vital piece of information until Saturday. Though I kept wondering why the skunk smell was so strong near the backdoor for days! Once I found out, I immediately called the City to report the trapped animal.
Even if somebody didn’t know to call the City, which I’m assuming nobody did, isn’t this what the internet is for? To connect people to resources? To answer those perplexing questions for an uncommon, surprising situation? And yet, nobody did. Even more puzzling than how the skunk ended up in the window well for over two days, was trying to understand why nobody could connect technology to nature and help this poor animal.
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