Mr. Bumble
Posted on 10/01/2009 10:45:33 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Mr. Bumble the skunk loves his bacon sandwiches, but his new owners have put him on a vegetarian diet to help shed the extra weight they’ve added to his frame.
At 14 pounds, Mr. Bumble is twice his ideal weight. His previous owners, who indulged his love for pork, gave him to the RSPCA and he now lives at Tropiquaria animal park near Watchet, Scotland where he’s fed fruit and vegetables.
His new healthy diet, along with a daily exercise regimen, should help him shed the extra 7 pounds that have made his naturally sleek body so rotund. Skunks’ natural diet in the wild is made up of insects, mice, greenery and dead animals.
Skunks have become popular as household pets in the UK, but abandonment rates are up as a new law prevents the removal of their scent glands. Torpiquaria park owner Chris Noisier says that they’re not sure whether Mr. Bumble has been de-scented.
"We're now working on dieting him down to what he should be. Clearly bacon butties are not a normal part of a skunk's diet in the wild,” Noisier told the BBC.
"We're putting him on the vegetarian option at the moment. It's very much like a human weight watching issue. He is getting to meet lots of new people so there's lots going on in his life and I suspect it's making up for the lack of his old favorite food."
Mr. Bumble
I’d raise a stink if they took me off bacon!
Anyone is more than welcome to come fetch the one that wonders into our yard every night. Our dog and the smelly marauder really do not get along.
The littler buggers are mean...even if you’ve had the stink glands removed, why on earth would you want one as a pet?
That's you in the middle, isn't it? LOL!
OBESE SNUNK PING!
If they are feeding him radishes and onions, it may not make a difference.
An exercise regimen...I imagine Mr. Bumble with his little Nordic Track incline trainer, his little Bowflex, his little Pilates ball and his little yoga pad.
Thankfully, skunks are hopelessly addicted to bacon....works every time. Blam-blam-blam...click-click.
Torpiquaria park owner Chris Noisier says that they’re not sure whether Mr. Bumble has been de-scented.
I’m sorry but I would have no interest in getting near the thing. I ran over a skunk one summer and I had to abandon the truck, later have it towed home, and had to leave it in the back (WAY in the back) yard for a month. Geesh it stunk.
As everyone knows, a happy skunk is a svelte skunk.;-)
I hope they don't deny him lean protein (like egg whites or a little boiled chicken). That will help his weight loss if fed in proper amounts.
One of the hazards of ownerships is that it's actually fun to watch them beg and eat, so they are easy to overfeed.
Not all of them are mean. We had one that was great. I don’t know if he would have liked bacon, but he sure was a ham!
Wild kits haven't been selectively bred for docility so they are hit and miss. Regardless, I disapprove of den robbing.
Adult wild skunks are usually very aggressive, yeah. If they weren't they would have made it adulthood.
When we first got our baby skunk, Blossom, we didn’t know what to feed him, so I cut off a big chunk of cornbread and put it in his cage. I looked later and he was propped up in the corner with a very extended belly. It seems they don’t know when to stop eating. We raised him on cat food and the insects he could catch, also on the Japanese beetles the neighbors caught and brought to him.
I clicked on this thread to see a picture of an obese skunk, and there it is! Hurrah!
APf
Several times while camping I have had skunks come into camp and mooch. They have no fear and came right up to me sitting at the picnic table. I never gave them anything, but it is not like you can try to scare them out of camp and offend them or you are going to be sprayed. One night one came into camp and started to get into the garbage bag, rattling beer cans and making a racket. When I jumped out of the tent intending to wave my arms and yell at the varmint, I saw that it was a skunk and I slunk back inside and let him have his way.
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