Fat skunk gives up bacon butties

An overweight skunk from Somerset whose main diet was bacon sandwiches has been re-homed and put on a strict diet. The owners of Mr Bumble the skunk handed him over to the RSPCA when they realised they could not look after him properly.

The creature is now being cared for at the Tropiquaria animal park at Washford Cross, near Watchet. Park owner Chris Noisier said Mr Bumble weighed one stone (6.8kg) and needed to lose 5-6lb (2.2-2.7kg).

Mr Noisier said: "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."

In the wild, skunks' natural diet would include carrion, insects, mice and a variety of greenery.

Chris Noisier said Mr Bumble was currently being fed on a vegetable high-fibre, low-energy diet consisting of greens and melon. Two vets have examined Mr Bumble and neither can be sure whether he has been de-scented.