Exotic pet store close store early after Nottingham animal rights arrive

"There are many reasons why skunks do not make good pets: they have large, sharp canines and cause considerable damage when they bite; they have powerful front claws used for digging burrows; and in the wild they occupy territory of up to 8 square miles.

Skunks have two anal scent glands which produce a mixture of noxious chemicals that have a highly offensive smell strong enough to ward off bears and other potential predators! Muscles located next to the scent glands allow skunks to spray with high accuracy over a distance of up to 15ft."

This is NOT, repeat not intended as being in favor of keeping skunks as pets to say nothing of the advisability of introducing an exotic species into Britain.

HOWEVER -- let's learn about out fellow critters. There is only one reason why skunks (entire) would not make good companion animals and that's their defense mechanism. They haven't signed the Geneva accords and use gas warfare. You don't get to experience this over your side of the pond but trust me, truly awful. The risk is that a pet skunk might get startled and let loose at a perceived threat and if this is inside your house ....... (otherwise they make excellent "pets")

Yes of course they have teeth and claws but in this regard not more of a hazard than the average domestic cat and probably less likely to use them. And it would be incredibly poor habitat where the density would be so low that they would be occupying 8 square miles. Under 100 acres more like it.

BTW, the powerful claws aren't just for burrows. Grubs are an important part of the skunk diet and a family of skunks can turn a fair sized lawn in a night if there is enough density of grubs to make it worth their while.

There was a young man from the city,
Who saw what he thought was a kitty.
Saying "nice little cat"
He gave it a pat......
They buried his clothes out of pity.

>

Fair enough protesting the exotic pet trade very noble et al. But what about the domestic breeding market? Tens of thousands of guinea pigs, rabbits, rats, mice, hamsters, cats, dogs, etc are overbred in the UK by both individual breeders, show breeders, commercial breeders, and individual owners too lazy to neuter their pets.

The number of 'foreign exotic species' being bred for captivity in this country is minuscule compared to the over breeding of the more well known and accepted species. Surely it'd be more efficient rather than targeting an individual shop which if it closes another will open due to the demand, to target the actual public who buy from irresponsible breeders? You're not going to reduce the supply without curtailing the demand.

I think that the main article does clearly highlight that there is more than one reason for not keeping a skunk as a 'pet'. We can add to this list that these are not animals that have been bred for domesticity, therefore unless you hand rear a young kit you are unlikely to have a 'pet' that enjoys your company and are more likely to end up with an individual who finds your presence hugely stressful. We can also add to this that there is an extremely narrow gene pool for 'pet' skunks, with most being descended from those unfortunate individuals farmed for their fur not so many years ago. This means that these are animals likely to have a family tree of significant inbreeding and will no doubt suffer from related health problems in the future (although granted, this may be no worse than your typical pedigree dog, however we have all seen the results of inbreeding there). And while on the subject of health problems, how many vets in the UK do you think will have the specialist knowledge required to adequately treat an ill or injured skunk? With vets still classing common household 'pets' such as rabbits and guinea pigs as exotic animals and there being few medicines licenced for use on them, any skunk needing medical care will receive comparitively poor treatment, no matter how skilled the vet maybe. We have seen similar occurrences with tortoises. The leopard tortoise for instance has a fatal allergy to baytril, the most commonly prescribed animal antibiotic. This was only discovered after the death of many 'pets'.

The area of territory typically inhabited by a wild skunk is debatable as territories ranging from 30 acres (which is still vastly larger than most households back gardens can provide) up to 8 miles have been recorded, hence our use of the wording 'and in the wild they occupy territory of UP TO 8 square miles.'

When it comes to teeth, the jaw of a skunk is considerably larger and stronger than that of your average moggy and as well as breaking the skin and causing significant muscle and ligament damage, an adult skunk is capable of breaking a toe or a finger with a bite. Personally, I'd much rather be bitten by a cat than a skunk - however I do try to avoid being bitten by anything as a general rule. Skunk claws are very different to cat claws, they are more similar in structure to bear claws (although smaller, obviously) but thank you for pointing out that they can also be used to efficiently landscape your garden.

Please note that this is just one of many current ongoing campaigns. There are a huge number of important issues that are worthy of our time and many people choose to spend their time working on several or more causes, so please do not automatically assume that people working on this campaign have no interest in the issues affecting 'domestic animals' and are doing nothing to help them. There are campaigns that target the breeding and sale of pretty much every animal anyone could ever possibly wish to purchase and if someone feels strongly about the welfare of a particular species, then please contact us as we would be most happy to put you in touch with a group working on that issue.

This campaign is not blindly targeting one business, public demonstrations are just one part of what we are doing. The aim of leafleting outside of a petshop such as this is to enable us to directly speak to both the general public and to people who may be thinking of getting an exotic 'pet', enabling us to give them accurate information on the exotic pet trade and to promote the responsible rehoming of unwanted animals.

Curious pet owner, you are right however, 'The number of 'foreign exotic species' being bred for captivity in this country is minuscule compared to the over breeding of the more well known and accepted species' because unfortunately many exotic animals are taken from the wild each year and brought to the UK where they can be sold as 'pets'.