Sunrise and sadness.

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We woke up to another glorious sunrise last week.

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But as I was standing on the back deck taking pictures, I noticed something to the left.

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In front of the woodshed.

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We have a few morning skunks nibbling under the bird feeders now and then and they often scurry into the shed if they spot me.

But this one wasn’t scurrying.

😰

I’m going to issue a warning now.

This poor little guy was dead, and since we love our backyard visitors like family … and I’ve never been close enough to touch a skunk…. I did that morning. I also took pictures, which might be disturbing.

So again, here’s my warning.

Dead animal photos to follow.

Please leave now if you find it distressing.

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Skunks don’t live very long in the wild. On average only two to four years. And since we didn’t see any signs of injury, we’re guessing it was just this sweet little fellow’s time.

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He looked very peaceful. As if he simply laid down and went to sleep.

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I like to think the beautiful sunrise helped him on his way.

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❤️

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40 thoughts on “Sunrise and sadness.”

  1. 😢 Awwe. It definitely looked like it was the skunks time to go. I didn’t know how long they lived until you said. So, I was surprised by how many years they only live up to.

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  2. i hope he died peacefully. Though as someone else mentioned it is strange he did so in the open. I too wondered about poison or even rabies. but he does look too peaceful for either of those. So let’s just hold that it was an easy leaving for whatever reason.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. I’ve noticed that most of my younger raccoons are suddenly appearing without their moms. Probably just time for them to be on their own, but I worry about them.

    Did the skunk’s scent sack get released? I’ve wondered about that with natural death.

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