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Removing the scent glands of a skunk is considered about as ethical as declawing a cat. It just isn't really done anymore. Maybe 30 years ago...
by TylerE 11mo ago
Removing the scent glands of a skunk is considered about as ethical as declawing a cat. It just isn't really done anymore. Maybe 30 years ago...
- cogman10 11mo agoI don't really understand this. Isn't it about as surgically invasive as getting a pet spayed? Does the scent gland do anything more than just stinking? For a cat, removing the claws literally removes bones from them. It limits their mobility and hurts like hell. (Not that I want a pet skunk. Just curious as to why it's unethical)
- TylerE 11mo agoI mean, you're removing part of a living animal for human convenience. If the ethical issue isn't obvious I don't know what to tell you. The practice has been banned in the UK for almost 20 years, under the exact same laws as ban declawing cats. It's unnecessary mutilation with no medical justification.
- quickthrowman 11mo agoWe neuter male cats so they don’t spray piss everywhere and spay female cats so they don’t go into heat and scream incessantly to be let outside. Both procedures seem slightly more invasive than removing a scent gland in a skunk, given that it removes the sex organs that secrete hormones and changes their behavior for the rest of their life. It’s possible that a skunk gets anxious when it tries to spray and nothing comes out, I can’t say I’m an expert in skunk behavior, it just seems less invasive than spaying or neutering to me.
- TylerE 11mo agoNo, we neuter and spay so we are not overrun with feral cats. Not to control where they piss.
- NetMageSCW 11mo agoThen why neuter indoor cats?
- cogman10 11mo agoWe do a lot of bad things to animals for human convenience. Including forced breeding and raising them to be slaughtered. The ethics is murky to me because I assume the procedure doesn't cause lasting pain and allows the animals to be pampered pets. The alternative is they are kept wild.
- TylerE 11mo agoThere are plenty of quite happy non-descented skunks out there. They don’t just go around spraying. It’s a defense mechanism - pretty much their only one as a matter of fact. Tame pets are very unlikely to spray anyone not trying to hurt them.
- underlipton 11mo ago>Does the scent gland do anything more than just stinking? It's part of their communication system. There's no direct corollary in human qualia, but you might say it's akin to permanently destroying your ability to flirt or tell other people that something belongs to you. You would still experience the impulse, but not have the cognitive equipment to do so any longer. Removing scent glands destroys the physiological equipment, of course.
- IAmBroom 11mo agoThat's a wildly stretched metaphor. Spraying a threat with a chemical weapon so powerful it will deter a hungry predator is not akin to winking at a cute girl or boy. And if the scent gland is "part of their communication system", then a loaded 45 is part of a (domesticated, modern) human's.
- underlipton 11mo agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anal_gland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anal_gland Skunks use their anal scent glands as a defensive weapon, yes, and it's thought that this is their primary use. However, until recently, it was also thought that skunks didn't scent mark at all. It turns out that they do, through body-rubbing, like cats. It stands to reason then that we might also be wrong about the functions of their anal glands, and that (as with most carnivores) they serve some sort of less-extreme communication function in addition to the last-resort defense. But threat displays are also part of a human's communication system, yes. In any case, there are differing accounts as to whether removal affects the animal, and also whether it's even necessary to prevent spray incidents. https://publish.illinois.edu/maxallen/files/2021/04/Jackson-et-al.-In-Press-Skunk-Scent-Marking.pdf https://publish.illinois.edu/maxallen/files/2021/04/Jackson-... https://www.reddit.com/r/Skunks/comments/fyxdsk/hello_i_have_a_skunk_related_question_excuse_my/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Skunks/comments/fyxdsk/hello_i_have...