Earlier this year, I was scrolling away through twitter (as I do far too often) when some photos of a giraffe being fed by hand appeared. These were from a VIP experience at CWOA, a theme park I've rapidly fallen in love with other the past year-and-a-bit. Flicking through their website, I scanned through all the VIP animal experiences available and largely the experiences were similar to meets offered at other animal parks - except one caught my eye. 'Skunk Walks', offering the chance to 'take one of our adorable skunks for a walk around the park'. No other information was offered beyond that in the listing opposite, allowing my imagination to run wild picturing all the places I could skip through with a skunk. This sounded completely ridiculous, so obviously I needed to book immediately. (Also, how can you say no to that face).
When we first met Flash the Skunk, he was being carried by one of the brilliant Chessington zoo staff and we were both immediately smitten. The staff running the experience then introduced us and quickly went through what the experience would involve. Before we were allowed to interact with Flash we were required to pop on some masks and gloves supplied by the park - apparently Skunks are very vulnerable to COVID-19! Who knew!
Then we got the chance to actually take Flash for a walk! Or, more accurately, Flash got the chance to walk us. To keep things as chilled for the skunk as possible, we were instructed to keep the leash slack at all times, meaning that Flash was able to scurry around anywhere and everywhere he wanted - the best kind of chaos! The brilliant staff kept him as focused as possible, with a constant supply of mealworms but with so many distractions in a busy park, he wasn't always set on the most direct route. This part of the experience understandably attracted quite a crowd of families gathering around to get a look at the skunk, with many children rushing up to pose next to us for a photo. If you really hate attention, perhaps this isn't the experience for you.
With the lions share of the walking under our belts we then got to spend a good while being hands on with Flash. We were able to give him plenty of strokes and tickles, as well as hand feeding(!) mealworms and all the while falling completely in love with skunks. The staff were amazing during this period, constantly giving us mealworms to feed him and taking endless photos on my phone (something I wasn't sure they'd be able to do in current times).
Finally, it was time to walk Flash back to his home near Amazu. Once we begun to approach his exhibit, he ran. Seriously - these guys can move! After navigating past many more curious kids, it was time for one last tickle and then goodbye.
Throughout the entire experience Flash was wonderfully curious and friendly and a fantastic ambassador for his species. Even whilst walking him, many people made negative comments about skunks and warned each other to stay away. However, much like bumblebees, skunks will only ever unleash their weapon if they truly believe their life to be in danger. Before that point, you'll get plenty of warning too. So if you were worried you'd come out of this stinking, don't - just go cuddle some adorable fluffy critters. Hopefully, experiences like this will help change minds about this wonderful species.
At £25 each (or £20 for passholders) I can't recommend the Skunk Walk enough. Thanks Chessington for such a unique experience. I won't forget this in a hurry!
Speak again soon,
Claire
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