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Skunks don’t always spray when trapped and moved. Someone we know trapped one, covered the cage, and transported it in a car trunk. I consider this making the skunk someone else’s problem, though, unless moving it to a huge wilderness expanse.
Personally, I wouldn’t risk it. We once trapped a skunk in winter, thought it would die from freezing to death, so we left it out. Turns out skunks, being adapted to hibernating, don’t need food in winter, and it probably ate some snow below the trap for water. It lived much longer than we expected. Don’t repeat our mistake; it would’ve been kinder to just shoot it. It did die, and when that happens there will still be some musk released. Get it over with and make the death quick.
We live on the outskirts of a small town. We have a lot of rural acreage around us. The past several weeks we've had an almost daily encounter with a skunk. We also have cats and pet doors for the cats. We also have a game camera that is tripped by activity. The skunk has come in a number of times, eating cat food, peeing on the floor and getting into bird seed. We have had to block off the pet doors and try to make sure the cats are in by 10 pm or so.
The skunk has come into your HOUSE?!! I would STOP letting my cats out immediately (then again, all my cats have always been indoor-only, and this is one reason why!).
Honestly, I think a quick bullet to the head of the skunk is a humane end (assuming that's allowed where you live, and it sounds like it is), because at this point I don't think it's going to leave of its own accord.
Just let it go somewhere. No need to murder it.
Wear crappy clothes and toss a blanket over the trap because he’ll probably want to give you a spray.
Some say you can cover the live trap, then move the critter but I didn't dare try that. I've had a lot of problems with skunks here at this farm for the past ten or eleven years. Using large live traps baited with marshmallows, I dispatched several of the critters with a .22 rifle at a safe distance then removed the carcasses inside the traps some distance from the house but still on our property. We essentially have no neighbors so there was no one to complain.
Just be careful shooting into your live trap. You can very easily damage the trigger mechanisms and ruin the trap. Don't ask how I know this.
Man, that's an awful problem. When we lived in Oregon, we had a skunk get into a propane refrigerator we weren't using and had propped open for ventilation. I happened to see it passing by and instinctively slammed the door. The fridge was built into the wall and we were house-sitting so no real options.
I felt SO terrible but we had to leave it there! Nothing safe to do!
I got far away when clean-up came months later....
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Relocation of wildlife is often unlawful, unsafe, and a slow death sentence for the animal
