Skunk shooting upsets Charlottetown woman

Charlottetown should cancel a contract with a company that traps and shoots skunks in the city, says a local resident.

Elizabeth Schoales got curious when she saw several skunk traps in her Brighton neighbourhood. It took a few calls, but she finally found out the skunks are being removed and then shot.

"I certainly don't want my taxes going to pay a company who is killing animals," Schoales told CBC News Monday.

The City of Charlottetown has contracted the same company since 1993 to perform this service.

Coun. Terry Bernard, chair of the public works committee, was surprised to hear what happens to the skunks. He thought they were being released.

"For whatever reason I had a thought in my mind that they were being captured and disposed of somewhere else," said Bernard.

No space to relocate

Robert Gallant, owner Atlantic Graduate Lawn Care and Pest Control, has the skunk-control contract with the city. He said relocation is one of the options under his provincial permit, but it doesn't always work.

"Unfortunately we just cannot find a location for all these animals to relocate them," said Gallant.

About 400 skunks are trapped in Charlottetown each year, most of them in the summer. Gallant believes shooting them is far more humane than the other option the province offers: drowning.

"I highly don't recommend drowning any animal. I think it's very cruel," he said.

The provincial Department of the Environment told CBC News Tuesday it is withdrawing its pamphlet, When Skunks Become a Problem, because drowning is no longer considered a humane way of disposing of skunks.

The issue will be debated by council Tuesday night at a closed-door committee of the whole meeting. Bernard said council could cancel the $11,000 program altogether, investigate what other municipalities or provinces are doing, or keep the program the way it is.