Ann Baker Interview
Transcript – Part 4: Visit from a Skunk Expert
Ann Baker Visited by Skunk Expert – Interview Transcript: Part 4. She describes how a world skunk expert validated her cat-skunk litter.
Okay now I had a man here one day and uh he listened very intently to my program and then he said um and I told him to go out and look at the cats so I showed him the adult cats and then I showed him the uh the kittens and then I showed him the kitten and I said, “Now let’s go over and look at the little babies.” So I took him over to look at the little baby kitties and he started laughing. He said, “Lady, you didn’t have me convinced until now.” He said, “I’m an investigator and I’m from Washington DC,” and he said, “I’m retired but I’m the world’s only skunk expert that’s why they sent me.” He stayed all day and he pointed out so much stuff. I was having a lot of trouble because they would not wean on cat food. Now I weaned them on baby food and I couldn’t get them off baby food. He said, “You gotta wean on dog food.” Then he said uh, “you uh”, they would walk on their front feet but they drag their behind like they’re here like they’re deformed or something. He said, “Well you have to put em on something rough because skunks outdoors are on the rough ground.” And their legs are up about an ich or an inch and a half farther then what a cat’s is. And that’s what makes it’s own tails stick up like this. And that’s the reason why the the back legs go like this is you have to put em on something rough so they can get their back legs under them because they’re built different. Now we show you this on the kittens too when we go out there. I won’t do it for this tour but usually I bring a kitten and show em stuff.
Now start here and she can lay this over here when she’s gets through lookin. This is the cat they gave me and here is a couple of em. One of em is silver and another of em is another color. So that you can see those. Now when they get a little bit bigger they can come in with stripes up the back. Now I’m gonna show you the little baby kitties first. First off you notice the ears are way down here. And for one thing and then the other thing they got monkey faces they got jaws like this that look like a monkey. Now there’s a picture of the babies. Hey pass em on over to her so she can see…[We’re getting on the film first] Oh I see. Okay. We’re not trying to leave you out of this. Now when they’re little bitty babies now this is turning silver. See their ears out to the side? Way down low and rounded and they got little beady eyes. See how they change from the other? Now you can take those. Now this is why that he couldn’t see em right off when he looked at the cats. See? Don’t they look just like cats? [Hold that up there for a minute Ann] Here’s the thing, these are the same cats. Now what has to happen those ears have to get long and pointed before they stand up and then they look like little airplanes ready to take off. See the little airplane? See the little airplane. It has to go like this before it stands up the other way. So when he saw the kittens they just looked like cats. When he saw the adults they just looked like cats. He had to go back and see the little baby and how they did so they would know. Now you can pass those around. Now that’s their ID. I think you’ve seen all these before, haven’t you?
