Someone may have attempted to drown two skunks in the Red Deer River.
Carol Kelly, executive director of the Medicine River Wildlife Centre, said staff were called after the skunks were found on the bank of the river.
Staff were able to release one skunk that got stuck and it ran away. The other skunk appeared dead, but was still breathing and was nursed back to health.
“I can’t say for sure, but it does make us suspicious,” Kelly said about the possibility of someone trying to drown the skunks.
“It is possible because we do get people all the time thinking that the solution to skunks in their yards is to trap them and throw them in the river and drown them.
“We even have communities telling people in their community to do that. It is a disturbing thing. But I can’t guarantee this was the situation here.”
She said staff are called out to Red Deer more than 300 times annually because of skunks. At this time of the year, they’re more active because babies are growing up and becoming teenagers.
People can get frustrated when skunks keep digging their way back into dens in yards, said Kelly. Then people get more angry and the situation escalates, but there are ways to proactively keep skunks away and humanely evict them, she said.
“Don’t take action into your own hands. Please talk to us. We can help you with it, rather than being cruel,” Kelly said.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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