I Had a Skunk Encounter
A Rather Painful Lesson Learned Last Night! (work/minor Safe Version)... Hey my fellow skunky fans. I have both good news and bad news, and I'll tell them one after the other.
I was at the park last night being that it's about to get VERY cold in Oklahoma and I don't expect to be able to chase any skunks in near-freezing temperatures. I looked for hours and hours coming up empty-handed until I finally decided to go further south into the golf course, whereupon I did in fact find a little striped beauty looking for grubs. I gave chase, and got a minor squirt or two across my old, spray-worthy pants and shirt (intended to replace my gear if I cannot find them). Being I'm greedy about my skunking and really wanted my skin good and saturated like some prior visits, this wasn't good enough. Alas, that skunk managed to use the strange twists in piping and my lack of proper flashlight to escape, so I had to find another.
Not too long after that, on my way back to my car another beautiful bold-striped opportunity presented itself. I gave chase, got some mists, pursued the little stinker under a bridge and across a creek one way, then the other, then finally getting him by the tail in some tall grass by the creek. He fired liberally as I teased musk out of him by tapping under his tail, and I happily took each handful of fresh amber skunk oil and rubbed it across my face, neck, crotch, chest, everywhere, savoring that overpowering musky aroma and thanking the skunk as I did so.
Alas, I was careless. As I went to remove items from my pockets and put others back in, my hand instinctively pulled TOWARD me, giving the angry and scared skunk the opportunity to [b]bite and latch onto my left, then right hand[/b], drawing blood and potentially infecting me with everything from tetanus and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever to rabies! I finally let the skunk go and to his credit he ran like the skunky wind blew, leaving me surrounded in that majestic aroma I love so much, reeking for a mile around me, excited yet subdued, lost in the beautiful stink despite my pain.
A long hike back to my car later I knew I HAD to get medical attention immediately so (cursing my luck for not having health insurance) I went to the nearest emergency room. A lengthy and very embarrassing visit ensued, every doctor and nurse choking and coughing on my skunky stink or (thankfully) sympathizing with my plight. I received 4 rabies shots and am scheduled to get several more to complete the series. These will cost a fortune, I'm sure, and what's worse, the fact I got bit in the first place has disqualified me from donating plasma for a year (which was always a great secondary source of income) due to whatever effect those shots have on immunoglobulin. I was also given a cheap presc<x>ription for an antibiotic which I intend to take every single dose of to ensure I don't develop any infections.
Before anyone wonders, I don't blame the skunk at all for biting me, he/she was acting according to nature. There's no effective way I could've communicated that I meant no harm, sadly, so he thought once his tail was grabbed he had to fight for dear life. I do wish he had missed though because this has been a very costly lesson: never handle wildlife without AT MINIMUM serious protective gear (mesh and leather gloves, knee-high boots, etc.) or better yet maybe just avoid unlicensed handling altogether, you know? There's a reason the professionals rarely get hurt. My hands require a lot of bandaging and I'm stuck still using them to work, which seems to re-open the wound on the right hand most painfully.
I was at the park last night being that it's about to get VERY cold in Oklahoma and I don't expect to be able to chase any skunks in near-freezing temperatures. I looked for hours and hours coming up empty-handed until I finally decided to go further south into the golf course, whereupon I did in fact find a little striped beauty looking for grubs. I gave chase, and got a minor squirt or two across my old, spray-worthy pants and shirt (intended to replace my gear if I cannot find them). Being I'm greedy about my skunking and really wanted my skin good and saturated like some prior visits, this wasn't good enough. Alas, that skunk managed to use the strange twists in piping and my lack of proper flashlight to escape, so I had to find another.
Not too long after that, on my way back to my car another beautiful bold-striped opportunity presented itself. I gave chase, got some mists, pursued the little stinker under a bridge and across a creek one way, then the other, then finally getting him by the tail in some tall grass by the creek. He fired liberally as I teased musk out of him by tapping under his tail, and I happily took each handful of fresh amber skunk oil and rubbed it across my face, neck, crotch, chest, everywhere, savoring that overpowering musky aroma and thanking the skunk as I did so.
Alas, I was careless. As I went to remove items from my pockets and put others back in, my hand instinctively pulled TOWARD me, giving the angry and scared skunk the opportunity to [b]bite and latch onto my left, then right hand[/b], drawing blood and potentially infecting me with everything from tetanus and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever to rabies! I finally let the skunk go and to his credit he ran like the skunky wind blew, leaving me surrounded in that majestic aroma I love so much, reeking for a mile around me, excited yet subdued, lost in the beautiful stink despite my pain.
A long hike back to my car later I knew I HAD to get medical attention immediately so (cursing my luck for not having health insurance) I went to the nearest emergency room. A lengthy and very embarrassing visit ensued, every doctor and nurse choking and coughing on my skunky stink or (thankfully) sympathizing with my plight. I received 4 rabies shots and am scheduled to get several more to complete the series. These will cost a fortune, I'm sure, and what's worse, the fact I got bit in the first place has disqualified me from donating plasma for a year (which was always a great secondary source of income) due to whatever effect those shots have on immunoglobulin. I was also given a cheap presc<x>ription for an antibiotic which I intend to take every single dose of to ensure I don't develop any infections.
Before anyone wonders, I don't blame the skunk at all for biting me, he/she was acting according to nature. There's no effective way I could've communicated that I meant no harm, sadly, so he thought once his tail was grabbed he had to fight for dear life. I do wish he had missed though because this has been a very costly lesson: never handle wildlife without AT MINIMUM serious protective gear (mesh and leather gloves, knee-high boots, etc.) or better yet maybe just avoid unlicensed handling altogether, you know? There's a reason the professionals rarely get hurt. My hands require a lot of bandaging and I'm stuck still using them to work, which seems to re-open the wound on the right hand most painfully.
