ANSWERS: 3
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I've heard this too, but can't find much substantiation to back it up. In the US I can find a law only in Wisconsin that regulates scent gland removal. That law simply says that a vet OR a person with a wild animal farm license can operate on a live skunk to remove its scent glands. An operation that under regulation can be done by a non-vet can't be too tricky, though I cannot find any mortality statistics. Seventeen states permit the keeping of skunks as pets and virtually all skunks sold in pet stores have the scent glad removed. The argument against scent glad removal appears to parallel that against the de-clawing of cats: if an altered skunk goes back into the wild, it would be cruel because it has no defenses.
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Curiously, why would they de-scent a skunk? Its a defense mechanism, to take it away is quite cruel i imagine....
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My mother had a pet skunk for years that had his glands removed, although my mom said he still tried to spray if you teased him enough. He escaped, and disappeared into the woods. They would occasionally see skunks near their house, but weren't sure enough that it was Homer, so they never tried to catch him. I imagine Homer was at a real disadvantage, although skunks will put up a big show before they resort to spraying. So he wasn't totally defenseless, but not as well off as a wild skunk. It is a little cruel, in that skunks aren't the best pets, so altering them for house lives when many people will abandon them just makes it less likely they will survive in the wild. I doubt the mortality rate is extremely high, but I do imagine vets in general are far less experienced with the surgery, and know less about skunks than domestic animals. So it's probably riskier than neutering or de-clawing a cat.
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