One stone skunk being helped to overcome bacon butty addiction

Published on Tuesday 29 September 2009 12:44

AN obese skunk has been put on a strict diet to help wean him off his addiction to bacon sandwiches.

The mammal, named Mr Bumble, was given to the RSPCA by his previous owners when he became too much of a handful.

He now lives at Tropiquaria animal park near Watchet, Somerset where

he is being put through a dietary regime involving long walks, vegetables and fruit.

Mr Bumble weighed one stone when he arrived at the centre, around double his ideal weight.

Park owner Chris Noisier told the BBC: "We're now working on dieting him down to what he should be and clearly bacon butties are not a normal part of a skunk's diet in the wild.

"We're putting him on the vegetarian option at the moment. It's very much like a human weight watching issue.

"He is getting to meet lots of new people so there's lots going on in his life and I suspect it's making up for the lack of his old favourite food."

A skunk's natural diet in the wild features carrion, insects, mice and a range of greenery.

Native to North America, the creatures have become popular as house pets in the UK.

But increasingly they are being found abandoned after a law was

passed preventing the removal of their scent glands.

Vets' examinations have been unable to determine whether this happened to Mr Bumble.