Historicist: Life in Wartime
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-Verse
Like driving? Like skunks? Dislike compensation? Dream job alert!
Reuters is reporting that the Toronto Wildlife Center is looking for a driver willing to drive a skunk back to its home in California -- a 4,000 kilometer trip. The skunk was accidentally locked away in a transport truck after it fell asleep in some piping, and made the original seven-day trek from California to Mississauga without food or water. And if you lived in California one week and woke up in Mississauga the next, you'd probably want to go back home too.
The skunk can't just be let go here: it's not only illegal to release it on Canadian soil, but, according to Nathalie Karvonen, the Toronto Wildlife Center's executive director, "skunks are very territorial animals ... They won't just readily accept a stranger in their territory, so there will be a big skunk fight." A big Toronto skunk fight! Holy crap!
Since the Wildlife Center doesn't want to euthanize the perfectly healthy animal, they've asked for help from the public to give it a ride back. A plane is out of the question: airlines are normally helpful when it comes to returning accidentally transported animals, but thus far have been reluctant because of the smell.
So a car it is. Nathalie Karvonen, executive director at the Toronto Wildlife Center, gently noted that "We can never give a no-spray guarantee [for the driver]....It would have be somebody who would be prepared for that possibility." Though we doubt that someone kind enough to drive an animal normally considered a pest 4,000 kilometeres will really mind the smell.
If you or someone that you know can help out, you can call the Toronto Wildlife Center at 416-631-0662. At the very least, when you no longer smell or are exhausted from your trip, you'll have one hell of a story.
UPDATE (February 12): The skunk is back home safe and sound, thanks to Trace Nealy and Ryan Miller of KFYV Live 105.5 FM, a radio station in Ventura, California. Yay!
Photo by lamothefamily on Flickr. Thanks to Jill from Phillyist for tipping us off.
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I saw that in Strange Brew.
"I wouldn't go in there...there's a big skunk in there."
"It's a Toronto skunk, my jurisdiction"
Why don't they just send it back the same way it came -- in a truck? Have the Toronto Wildlife Centre place it in a truck carrying non-food items, and have a Wildlife group in California retrieve and release it? You still risk having products sprayed, I supposed, but at least it's not being taken back in the same compartment as a human.
Hello! I just wanted to say thanks for talking about this. Trace Nealy and I from the Trace Nealy in the Morning show in Ventura/Santa Barbara California kind of stuck our collective foots in our mouths when we told the Toronto Wildlife Centre that we would come and get Dorothy. Our radio station has decided that the liability of this trip is not worth the risk, so Trace and I are going to use our own vacation time to facilitate the trek. The logistics of carting Dorothy back across the country are pretty complicated, and we could use some help. We have tallied up what the rescue mission is going to cost, and it's about $4000. If anyone knows of a rental car company, or a car dealership who might be willing to help us, PLEASE send us an e-mail at traceandmillerlive@hotmail.com
Thank you all so much, and we'll keep you posted on our trip.
And for the record, we talked to about 10 different shipping companies, and the Rig drivers won't risk their trailers, even if they don't transport food because if Dorothy sprays, they can't ever get the smell out. Can't wait to see what it does to our clothes.