Stuck Skunk Freed

Members of an animal rescue group carried out their smelliest rescue yet when they freed a stuck skunk. WildRescue members received an emergency page Tuesday about a skunk that had gotten its head tangled in the netting of a batting cage in Aptos, California. Team member Rebecca Dmytryk said rescuers arrived at the scene at 1 p.m. and found the adult male striped skunk exhausted from trying to free itself and suffocating from the netting around its neck. Dmytryk said the rescuers used a blanket to protect themselves while freeing the skunk and used a long-handled net to get the animal into a bucket. The skunk was released back into the wild later that day. “(The smell) is very unpleasant. It smells like the most intense poultice of sweet garlic and onions. It was awful and noxious. The skunk sprayed the blankets, the bucket, and himself, multiple times,” Dmytryk said.