Not here too!

[Kathy]

BBC NEWS | Scotland | North East/N Isles | Council kicks up pet skunk stink

I am very scathing of people who "modify" animals to make them more cuddly as pets. Declawing cats is inhumane, as is descenting ferrets, but both practices are common in America.

And now I see we are beginnin to import another nasty American trend of pets - descented skunks! The poor animal now has no way of defending itself if it is in danger, and, if it's anything like a descented ferret, will have all sorts of bowel and rectal problems in the future.

FFS! If you want something warm and cuddly, get a hot-water bottle cover! If you want a pet, then get a real animal, but don't modify it just for your convenience!

[border-rider]

Quite.  They should make these people share a small room with a fully-intact skunk.  Or a porcupine

[Pete]

A little transatlantic anecdote I've heard:  if you're unfortunate enough to run over a skunk, the final act of the poor creature with its last gasp, will be to render your car utterly unusable, uncleanable, un-deodorizable, and unsaleable.  Fit only for the breakers in fact.  Or so I've been told.  But of course this isn't the wretched skunk's fault.

[Pete]

If you want a pet, then get a real animal, but don't modify it just for your convenience!

Very true.  Which is one reason why I'm not really 'into' pets.  I prefer to have respect for our wild natural cousins who share this Earth with us, but without having to 'interfere' with them.  Hardly any pet isn't descended from some ancestor that was 'adapted' to suit its human owner's convenience.  Dogs, indeed: what is truly 'wild' about our beloved pooch then?  And dear old moggies too!  As for poor widdle flopsy bunny-wabbit in her hutch...

Maybe even ferrets?  No, I won't go there: don't know enough about them! 

[hellymedic]

BBC NEWS | Scotland | North East/N Isles | Council kicks up pet skunk stink

I am very scathing of people who "modify" animals to make them more cuddly as pets. Declawing cats is inhumane, as is descenting ferrets, but both practices are common in America.

FFS! If you want something warm and cuddly, get a hot-water bottle cover! If you want a pet, then get a real animal, but don't modify it just for your convenience!

Much though I agree with you (I've never had or wanted any sort of pet) don't most responsible pet owners feel duty-bound to 'modify' their pets' reproductive system? I don't know about the morality there either...

[border-rider]

We've only ever had rescue cats - I'd agree about breeding them for pets being a Bad Thing.

As for neutering - well, if you're going to keep them and not end up with 101 kittens it's the only way.  And I'd not take on an un-neutered tomcat.

[Kathy]

Much though I agree with you (I've never had or wanted any sort of pet) don't most responsible pet owners feel duty-bound to 'modify' their pets' reproductive system? I don't know about the morality there either...

I see neutering as a modification for the pet's convenience - if Kitty (our little jill ferret) hadn't been neutered, then she would have had to produce a litter of kits every twelve months, or die. Literally. And because of this trick of biology, there are already more ferrets around than there are homes, so for the animals' welfare, all our ferrets (from rescue centres) were neutered.

Very true.  Which is one reason why I'm not really 'into' pets.  I prefer to have respect for our wild natural cousins who share this Earth with us, but without having to 'interfere' with them.  Hardly any pet isn't descended from some ancestor that was 'adapted' to suit its human owner's convenience.  Dogs, indeed: what is truly 'wild' about our beloved pooch then?  And dear old moggies too!  As for poor widdle flopsy bunny-wabbit in her hutch...

Maybe even ferrets?  No, I won't go there: don't know enough about them! 

They've been domesticated for a couple of thousand years, and have more curiosity than survival instinct. They don't usually last for long in the outside world.

[Sergeant Pluck]

Terrible.

I absolutely detest the US tendency to carry out unnecessary procedures in this way: "debarking"  , ear trimming for spaniels etc. Absolutely makes my blood boil; vets performing these procedures should be barred from practice for life. And have their nads off and their ears "trimmed".

[hellymedic]

The more I read, the less I wish to possess a mammal (or any other pet).

[Gandalf]

She sounds a real saddo.  What on earth was the vet thinking who carried out the operation to cruelly adulterate the skunk?

I can't believe that the whole 'pet' trade is allowed to exist when every year many thousands of healthy animals are put to death.

[rogerzilla]

Apart from pigeons, cats are probably the only "free" pets.  if they don't like you, they just leave and don't come back.  Actually, even if they do like you, they often have other houses at which they dine.  Mr. Josh sometimes comes back smelling of perfume, and is putting on weight even though he eats very little at our house 

[David Martin]

Cats don't have owners, they have staff.

[Mrs Pingu]

I don't honestly see why neutering animals is any less 'humane' than having contraception or sterilisation available to humans. Better than being up the duff 365 days a year and being overrun by cats, dogs etc.
I do think there should be a lot more regulation in the keeping of unusual animals though.