SKUNK REMOVAL?

There was a faint, almost indiscernable skunk-like smell lingering in our garage after we returned from Newport. Indiscernable and skunk aren't two words that generally exist in the same sentence, but honestly, the smell was slight enough we thought perhaps a stray cat had wandered in and done its business somewhere. One evening later on, Greg was returning from an errand and as the garage door opened a black silhouette with a fanned out tail sauntered into the garage. Without a doubt, a wild animal had taken up residence in our garage.

Saturday morning, Greg began the laborious job of sorting through our accumulated garage junk to find clues about our newest inhabitant. It was possibly a squirrel, or small cat, or the most far-fetched, but highly unlikely idea, a skunk.

As he moved boxes, and emptied our garage onto the driveway, like a spilled drink, he heard animal movement in the back corner. Something was definitely in the garage and it whatever it was, it wasn't very anxious to come out. Greg banged, and jabbed, and pounded and made all the noise he could to scare the animal away, but to no avail.

It wasn't until halfway through the day that Greg actually got his first glimpse of the indiscernible black and white markings. A skunk!!!! That definitely changed the course of action. Not wanting to provoke a spraying, Greg moved with greater caution and care. The trick was how to lure this skunk out without it spraying. The smell would infest the entire house and Greg most likely too!
Our neighbors thought we were having a garage sale, I wish I would have taken advantage of that! Though, mostly, everything went to DI or the dump. Several Christmas decorations and box contents were marred by our visitor and no longer usuable. By the end of the day, we knew that the skunk was either inside the box in the furthermost corner, or underneath it. Curiosity mixed with fear pushed Greg forward. The city charged too much to remove it; trapping it would cause it to spray and then we would still have to move it, and how? in our truck; upsetting it might cause it to spray and nighttime was coming.
(Our neighbor was overcome by curiousity and determined to catch a glimspe. I'll post his footage, even though I'm embarrased by the condition of our garage at that point. )
Anyhow, Pepe le Pew made a full showing as dusk came on, skunks are nocturnal after all. Greg decided to leave the garage door open, with all our junk still spilled all over the driveway, and put sardines outside the garage to lure him out hoping he would find another home.
We posted this sign on our driveway to avoid nasty HOA letters and also to warn our nieghbors to close their garages, or they too could have an unwelcome guest!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmh-6ZVpDaw