The Newhouse Wildlife Rescue team, which helps injured and orphaned wildlife in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, was used to seeing unfortunate situations but was shocked when they found a skunk who was a nursing mama caught in an illegal trap a few years ago.
The rescuers were not only upset by the fact that someone had put an illegal leg hold trap out that badly crushed the skunk’s leg, but also that she was a nursing mama who had no idea where her babies were.
“Leg hold traps are not only cruel but they are illegal,” was written on Newhouse Wildlife Rescue’s Facebook account, right after they found the injured mama skunk. “Days like these are the toughest. Days like these I am disappointed in my own species and sometimes it makes it hard to function,” the publication sadly continued.
After finally saving the mama skunk, animal control did everything they could to find her babies, but unfortunately, they didn’t have any luck locating them.
Then, a few days afterward, an orphaned baby skunk arrived at the facility and Jane Newhouse, a founder of Newhouse Wildlife Rescue, instantly came up with an idea.
Just one day after the mama skunk had created a very special bond with the orphaned baby, good news arrived: officers Courtney and Melinda from Lowell Animal Control did not give up on their search and eventually, all of the missing babies were found!
“We knew we had a very lonely single baby with no siblings, and we had this very lonely mom with no babies,” the woman explained.
The team didn’t know exactly what would happen once they put the injured mama and orphaned baby together, but it was a chance for them to get along, which could be healing for both of them.
Luckily, it didn’t take long for the mama skunk to approach the baby as she would her own. She gently pulled him closer and placed her body in front of the baby to protect him from the humans who were watching.
“There’s more emotion there than I think a lot of people realize,” Jane said, noting that skunks are more complex than people give them credit for.
Image credits: Newhouse Wildlife Rescue / Instagram