The more random than that other thread thread

[Maudie]

A skunk is eating our cats' food, so what does my dad do? Does he leave it alone like a reasonably intelligent person and hope it will eventually leave? NO. HE FREAKING SHOOTS THE THING WITH A BB GUN.

THANKS, DAD.

[Chipster of Noonvale]

Poor skunk

[The Skarzs]

I support this action.

[Jukka the Sling]

What happened once he shot it?

[Jetthebinturong]

Yay pointless animal cruelty.

[The Skarzs]

I might be wrong, but it probably didn't kill it, though that depends on the pellet gun. Some of them will just break the skin on an animal like that, just enough to make sure they won't come back. They have been known to kill chickens and mess with gardens, so they are known pests.

Not sure Maudie's dad wanted to feed a wild animal with food he bought for his pet.
What would you have done, out of curiosity?

[Chipster of Noonvale]

How about baiting a trap (with the cat food) then carrying the skunk over to a park somewhere?

[Jetthebinturong]

I didn't think he'd killed it.

Call me crazy but I would've let the hungry animal eat the cat food. And I'm not going to blame people's incompetence at protecting their chickens on another animal doing what it's naturally inclined to do. Calling an animal a pest is just an excuse to let people be lazy. And it's just as easy to catch animals with non-harmful traps as it is to put out lethal traps or shoot them.

[Maudie]

It sprayed all over the place, and he unintentionally injured it so he ended up putting it out of its misery.

The main reason that I would think that most people wouldn't go around shooting skunks with bb guns is because, y'know, skunks have some nasty natural defense mechanisms. I think they're better left alone. But the skunk has been lingering around our chicken coop and skunks pose a threat to chickens, so I guess my dad wanted to make sure that the chickens were safe.

But now half our house smells like skunk, so that's...lovely.

[Cornflower MM]

I didn't think he'd killed it.

Call me crazy but I would've let the hungry animal eat the cat food. And I'm not going to blame people's incompetence at protecting their chickens on another animal doing what it's naturally inclined to do. Calling an animal a pest is just an excuse to let people be lazy. And it's just as easy to catch animals with non-harmful traps as it is to put out lethal traps or shoot them.

Agreed, and thank you. We had an unknown animal lurking around our coop a while back, was climbing up to one of the nest boxes and eating the feed we were putting up there at nights. It kept doing it after two or three nights so we borrowed a trap from our neighbour and started moving the food to a better place at night. It's really not that hard to avoid shooting or poisoning animals, it's just about whether or not you like to play with guns and if you want to take the extra time to trap it and not kill it. Whatever "it"  maybe be.

I didn't know you had chickens, Mauds, that's great.

[Jukka the Sling]

I might be wrong, but it probably didn't kill it[...]

Yeah, what I was thinking, although I was curious about what it would actually do to a furry animal like that.  I've shot BB guns numerous times myself.

[The Skarzs]

I hear skunks make decent pets as long as their spray gland is removed.

[Jetthebinturong]

I hope that's a joke.

[Jukka the Sling]

It's true.  Some people have domesticated skunks as pets.

[Chipster of Noonvale]