[Pimperella]

As it is currently being discussed in another topic. Not sure if others know but. Acording to this statement from Lucy.

This is the only thing I am going to say on this;
Social services issue was that **** had dangerous animals around her child, these being the skunks in their eyes, and the same report/complaint stated that she had vicious dogs that turned on anyone (that's a lie may I add) which social services soon realized wasn't true.
They also had issues with the mess skunks can make, and stated very clearley that if they found out or heard of anyone else with skunks who lived indoors along with children, they would have a) the child put into care until skunk have gone. B) skunks taken there and then by the RSPCA c) give a set time for all 'dangerous' animals to be removed from the house, if not adhered to then either a or b would happen.
.

So thus this a fore warning to all the Skunk Keepers out there who want to keep their children. (acording to said statement from Lucy.)

 

[Fixx]

Neither our midwife nor our health visitor (who is duty bound to report any abuse/problems she sees) had no issues with the skunks when they have been to visit Isobella and Lou, if anything the health visitor seemed to be in favour of it, she said it would be nice for Isobella to grow up with such unusual pets.
I think if our house was covered in skunk faeces then things may have been different. As it is the house may not be tidy, and with a growing child in the house liable to become even less so, but it is cleaned daily and any errant skunk poop not in a litter tray (emptied daily) is cleaned as soon as discovered.

 

[hillzi]

How can you justify a skunk is dangerous...

Jesus, the social services in this county is s:censor:

 

[angels1531]

If it's not the politicians saying all our reps are out in the garden killing cats, they should all be banned, and its not the RSPCA saying its animal cruelty to leave a snake 10 days without being fed, then its now the social services saying they will take our kids away... what on earth is this country coming to?

 

[LoveForLizards]

... what on earth is this country coming to?

A bunch of paranoid, pathetic hypochondriacs? : victory:

 

[Titch1980]

i'd like to know how true this is,
as recently me and Craig had been discussing me getting one for my "big 30" next year, saving and researching but im not sure after reading that :s

 

[ownedbyroxy]

i'd like to know how true this is,
as recently me and Craig had been discussing me getting one for my "big 30" next year, saving and researching but im not sure after reading that :s

I'm gonna call the SS that covers my area tomorrow. I'll pop the findings on this thread. I think though what would be one rule for one area would be the same for the next and that they'd have similar guidelines.

 

[angels1531]

Thinking about the lengths that the social services have to go to to remove a child from their parents, I honestly cannot see that this can be right. I think that people who have kids can even hold a DWA licence for the most venomous snakes in the world (granted the kids wouldnt be able to get access to these animals, however thats not to say that its impossible an adult couldnt be handling/cleaning when kids are there.... highly unlikely, but not impossible).
Families are permitted to have dogs and cats and snakes and lizzards and all manner of other animals, I just cant see how a skunk could be any different.

 

[Genseric]

Im not sure what it is like over on the mainland... but the SS over here would only take drastic action if the animals were posing a risk.. be that from fecal matter not being cleaned up, to dangerous animals being neglected.
We have a health visitor who is fascinated with my wee lads attention to detail etc regarding the animals... so I really think it is a husbandry issue, and not the ownership aspect.

 

[Pimperella]

I see it as the same.
As with Cows killing an awful lot more people each year than most people know of, you don't see the SS dragging children out of the homes on Farms.

However, if any animal kept within your home around children or the elderly, and is allowed to crap everywhere and pee everywhere without owners cleaning up after them, then that is a different issue than to just owning an animal yourself and having children but not having crap piled up everywhere.

 

[Lucy_]

As it is currently being discussed in another topic. Not sure if others know but. Acording to this statement from Lucy.




So thus this a fore warning to all the Skunk Keepers out there who want to keep their children. (acording to said statement from Lucy.)

Lol I have said SO many times that of was a statement from one woman in Halifax, that if SHE came across it, that is the action she would take...! And I have also said that I don't know if it is true for all over, or with other social workers... I quoted what she said.

Yes I think it is ridiculous... But hey! It's what came out her mouth not
Mine, so it is not 'according' to, I've said what I have heard, and yes, maybe it would be different in differnt homes, but that was never said so I can't comment on it. And if you read back in previous posts shell and cat mentioned it before me! So how you can say that only accoring to me, I have no idea! So you honestly think i want that shit to be true in it's whole entireity?! NO I keep skunks and I want kids, so I hardly want it to be enforced! This is what happens when people don't read things fully., things spiral and people start twisting and making up their own parts to the story.

So people can continue making up their own stories and assumptions, or can read what I put in the light it was said. I am not 'warning' anyone about it, I re ittersted what had been said previously.

Lucy x

 

[Shell195]

F*ck about lady you don't read things do you! Lol I have said SO many times that of was a statement from one woman in Halifax, that if SHE came across it, that is the action she would take...! And I have also said that I don't know if it is true for all over, or with other social workers... I quoted what she said.

Yes I think it is ridiculous... But hey! It's what came out her mouth not
Mine, so it is not 'according' to, I've said what I have heard, and yes, maybe it would be different in differnt homes, but that was never said so I can't comment on it. And if you read back in previous posts shell and cat mentioned it before me! So how you can say that only accoring to me, I have no idea! So you honestly think i want that shit to be true in it's whole entireity?! NO I keep skunks and I want kids, so I hardly want it to be enforced! This is what happens when people don't read things fully., things spiral and people start twisting and making up their own parts to the story.

So people can continue making up their own stories and assumptions, or can read what I put in the light it was said. I am not 'warning' anyone about it, I re ittersted what had been said previously.

Lucy x

Lucy is quite right she didnt mention it first I did. I said that it was a possibility that SS acted because of what they thought of as dangerous animals being present in the home which seems quite feasible to me. As Lucy says Pimps you really need to read things before you post

 

[Fixx]

Lucy is quite right she didnt mention it first I did. I said that it was a possibility that SS acted because of what they thought of as dangerous animals being present in the home which seems quite feasible to me. As Lucy says Pimps you really need to read things before you post

You said it was a 'possibility' as in you were putting forward a theory, the way I read Lucy's post was as if it was a fact. Personally I think it is a load of skunk poop, and the problem was in fact husbandry issues involving large amounts of skunk poop.

 

[angels1531]

Lucy is quite right she didnt mention it first I did. I said that it was a possibility that SS acted because of what they thought of as dangerous animals being present in the home which seems quite feasible to me. As Lucy says Pimps you really need to read things before you post

If it was regarded as a 'dangerous animal' it would require a DWA. I am sure that they would not be able to remove a child for any reason other than if he/she was in life threatening danger... I doubt that would be posed from a skunk.
As far as I am aware a DWA is a legal requirement, and one that they would certainly need to investigate before the possibility of removal of a child.

 

[hillzi]

Now if I worked for the SS and saw a child crawling around a house littered with crap and a potential dangerous animal, say if it tried to attack me as i walked in the door, I'd try to remove the child.

saying that; if the house is clean and the child and the animal have no health defects such as allergies or injuries caused by the animal thats been allowed to be carried on, I would leave the skunk owner alone.

sodding ss.:bash::whip:

 

[Shell195]

If it was regarded as a 'dangerous animal' it would require a DWA. I am sure that they would not be able to remove a child for any reason other than if he/she was in life threatening danger... I doubt that would be posed from a skunk.
As far as I am aware a DWA is a legal requirement, and one that they would certainly need to investigate before the possibility of removal of a child.

Yes we all know that but SS and other uninformed authorities may see it differently. As far as they know Skunks are wild animals and therefore could be potentially dangerous. We all know the RSPCA views on exotics whos to say that other people wont have the same view

 

[Pimperella]

F*ck about lady you don't read things do you! Lol I have said SO many times that of was a statement from one woman in Halifax, that if SHE came across it, that is the action she would take...! And I have also said that I don't know if it is true for all over, or with other social workers... I quoted what she said.

Yes I think it is ridiculous... But hey! It's what came out her mouth not
Mine, so it is not 'according' to, I've said what I have heard, and yes, maybe it would be different in differnt homes, but that was never said so I can't comment on it. And if you read back in previous posts shell and cat mentioned it before me! So how you can say that only accoring to me, I have no idea! So you honestly think i want that shit to be true in it's whole entireity?! NO I keep skunks and I want kids, so I hardly want it to be enforced! This is what happens when people don't read things fully., things spiral and people start twisting and making up their own parts to the story.

So people can continue making up their own stories and assumptions, or can read what I put in the light it was said. I am not 'warning' anyone about it, I re ittersted what had been said previously.

Lucy x

Lucy is quite right she didnt mention it first I did. I said that it was a possibility that SS acted because of what they thought of as dangerous animals being present in the home which seems quite feasible to me. As Lucy says Pimps you really need to read things before you post

You also need to look at times posted as when you stated all the secondary c**p you spouted Lucy, this was already posted.
So maybe you both should.

End of the day, you are trying to cover things up by claiming that the skunks themselves were the issue when the issue was the filthy and dire living conditions within her house. Like skunk s**t up everything. SS would have been the same if it was cat s**t up everything. They wouldn't then have someone spouting that all cat owners were then at risk. No just cat owners with s**t up every wall!

Lucy, were you there when the ss came round and did you sit in on it all?
Or is this when ******* has told you?

 

[HadesDragons]

I've cleaned the thread rather than closing it as a lot of people requested it stay open as it's a worthwhile discussion.

Please try to keep comments and stories "general" - at the moment it seems as soon as certain names are brought into things, a thread automatically degenerates into a witchhunt. There are enough threads dealing with all crap already that that it doesn't really need to spread across the entire forum.

Thanks.

 

[Pimperella]

I did find a thread started by a newbie who was asking about SDkunks as pets. Joined aug 2009.
So who is to say that it is not an SS worker, digging for more info on people with them.
Vets will report people if they know they have animals which are DWA, Ban Dogs, etc. So it would just as easy to do via Vets as to who is Registered as having a skunk or Skunks with Children.

If true, I certainly think it is something that all Skunk owners should fight against.
Maybe doing something positive. Like True information sites, or if True or not, a list of Solicitors that could help if the situation arises elsewhere, purely on the basis of Keeping a Skunk with Children. Then the Skunk owners should be informed as to how they would fight this.

 

[ownedbyroxy]

I said yesterday i would to to social services in my area. I spoke to a chap this morning, who has said in his career he has never removed a child due to an animal, but knows of cases in which the animal has been removed due to posing a threat. He also said that he has never heard of skunks as pets but that if they thought skunks were a threat, they would have to prove this matter as it is not their policy to remove children from their parents unless this is the last resort. He confirmed that regulations from one area to another are pretty much the same, but all social workers vary in their ethics. However that said, (i did enlighten him to a little detail about why i was asking), and he did say that no social worker can go in and remove any child without due cause, they have to complete paperwork, consult collegues etc etc. The SW did say that poor husbandry can lead to calling in other parties i.e RSPCA. As the way they see it, they are not trained to know how all animals are kept, so call in 'the experts'.
He did say that i am not to worry about having skunks in the home when i have children, as although he could not understand why i would want a pet like that, it does not question my parenting skills in any way. He added that if SS were concerned over parenting skills in any way, then they aim to work with parents / guardians where possible rather than removing children, and this is the very very last step.

Therefore, to put parents minds at ease, SS have stated that having a skunk or similar animal in your home has nothing to fear, and that they see no reason as to why both cannot live together happily provided that hygiene levels are kept to a high standard, as which he said they would expect from any pet. For example if the HV witnessed a dog peeing on childrens toys, and nothing was done to stop this, then HV is duty bound to discuss with collegues, and possibly contact SS to intervene.
Hope this sets parents / skunk owners minds at rest.