Any input?How come it is legal to feed a rat poison but illegal to feed a skunk poison?
If an animal is listed as 'vermin' or in the US a 'pest' then the law say you should get rid of it. So, you can poison rats, because they're a 'pest' under the law (and even then, you may need to hire professionals licensed to poison them for you), but skunks are not a 'pest' but a 'wild animal' and thus animal cruelty laws apply.
Animals become pests when they threaten the health of human beings, through disease, through making homes unsafe, through destroying food stores.
More or less, with rats (specifically, wild Rattus norwegicus) its 'us verses them' because they live in the same spaces, eat the same food and carry the same diseases we do. We're directly competing and so, rats become 'pests'. (This is different to domestic rats under our control, these are pets. I like pet rats. I would still kill wild ones in my home.) Even though poison is cruel, it's used because the alternative is a strong risk of disease and not being able to live in our own homes at all.
With skunks, they're not competing so much. They're inconvenient, but they're not directly threatening harm to you just by existing and trying to live their lives.
You can persuade them to leave, you can possibly even kill them, but you can't be cruel to them and poison is seen as being too cruel for an animal that just happens to be in the way and isn't going to cause you direct harm.
If they were rabid, then you end up in a whole different scenario, but even then the laws I found didn't say you could poison them.How come it is legal to feed a rat poison but illegal to feed a skunk poison?
Skunks are protected wildlife while most rats are imported intruders.
You can evict skunks with one box of mothballs. Buy a box, toss the mothballs around under the house in any opening you can find that they're going in/out of. They won't stay.
Not all of the skunks are under your house. Most of them comprise of Congress and the Presidency and Homeland Suckurity.
well, why don't u put out rat poison under your house to kill the ';rats';,now wouldn't it be sad if the skunks ';accidentily got into it';.
Skunks eat rats, they keep the rats out.
Because rats spread infestations quicker and throughout a greater area than skunks ever could. Ever hear of the bubonic plague? Rats helped to spread that.
Edit: Morons abound. Without the rats those fleas wouldn't have gotten far. The rats spread the plague through carrying the fleas. They were the delivery system. Saying the rats weren't responsible is like saying that guns have nothing to do with a person dying of a gunshot wound. ';It wasn't the gun that killed them, it was the bullet.'; But without the gun to launch the bullet, then the bullet wouldn't have been able to make the wound that it did.
Please ignore the suggestions to put poison out for the ';rats'; and gee too bad if the skunks get it. By placing poison out and not using the small boxes that exclude anything bigger than a rat, you are endangering not only the skunks but any and all animals, including neighborhood pets (not to mention children) that might get into the poison. That is one of the reasons poison is not used on skunks and other nuisance wildlife - it is not species specific, and innocent animals and people can get poisoned.
Also, please do not use mothballs - why would anyone want to poison their environment?
There are professionals that deal with Nuisance Wildlife and they have the necessary licenses to trap and relocate these animal without harming them or your environment. Please contact one of them.
Rats can and will breed by the thousands in one year spreading numerous nasty diseases. Plague anyone?
i think it's because rats are pests and can carry diseases and are more likely to be found in you home than a skunk. skunk on the other hand live primarily in the forests away from people so what reason would you have to poison it?
Gotta agree with the poster above. Moth balls work! We had a skunk problem in our barn....now, really, I thought they were kind of cute the way they'd crowd in with the cats and enjoy the cat food....with this whole ';Just act casual....she'll think we're cats'; attitude....but they were denning in my hay barn, and even though I don't think they sprayed much....the hay was beginning to get that musty skunk odor, and the horses didn't want to eat. So, I tried the mothballs. In short order the entire skunk family packed up and moved out (I later found out they went right up the road to my neighbor's barn....I never told him where they came from.....).
Rats didn't spread the plague...THE FLEAS ON THEM DID! I know this for a fact because I have had rats for pets and I have done research about the illnesses BEFORE I got the rats.
As far as I am concerned, it is a very valid question because skunks can carry rabis and such. If you have a pest on YOUR LAND (can't be rented), then as long as you are not within city limits you could shoot them.
One thing that occurred to me for the reason why it may not be a good idea to try to poison skunks is because skunks may take things from place to place...including the poison and it could poison bigger things that are protected. Where as a rat stays in one area...usually the house.
EDIT: I did like Miki's suggestion too! That is ';one'; way to do it!
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