Woman pleads for safe return of pet skunk after escaping home

By Douglas Whitbread and Kaia Nicholl via SWNS

Residents of a pretty market town are on the look out for a missing skunk which escaped from its owner's home almost a week ago.

Vik Ellis, 42, said she has been left worried and saddened at the loss of her one-year-old pet Ace following his sudden disappearance last Thursday, July 11.

She thinks the striped mammal got out underneath the gate of her property near Sudbury, Suffolk, as she prepared his food and is now roaming around her local area.

Vik has now put out his favored fare of peas and cat food to try and lure him home - with up to six locals helping in the hunt each evening

She said one pal had even used his infrared scope - which reveals sources of heat - to try and locate the skunk in nearby bushes.

She said locals at the Maldon Grey pub, where she works as a kitchen assistant and often brought Ace, were also taking part in the search.

Vik said: “It has been awful. He escaped on my watch while my son was at work.

"All the staff and regulars have been so worried as we take Ace in to see the pub.

"We think he got under the gate while I was sorting his dinner out. It's been sad without him, we all miss him very much.

"We've had someone out with a night scope coming out to help us look, which is infrared.

"We've also been putting food out. We're also going to take some peas and cat food out when we look for him tonight… Usually, there are five to six of us.

"There's also been one of the regulars in the pub - he has been out with his dog looking for him. There are just a lot of people keeping a lookout."

Vik said she took on Ace in November as a rescue, along with an iguana, from a couple who were no longer able to look after them.

And she grew attached to the “affectionate” pet, native to North America, who also became a hit with locals at her pub.

Vik said: “He likes wandering around [the pub] garden. We always give him a bowl of peas. He’s happy going there and seeing everybody.

“He’s a bit like a ferret… He’s affectionate but he’s a bit feisty.

“I have a lot of animals. He is usually with the dogs, and he likes running around in the garden.

“The dogs now keep going to his shed. The door’s open, but there’s nothing in there. I left it open in case he comes back so that he can go in.”

Vik has searched Applegate Mews, close to her home, where he went missing, and had so far received one sighting of him late on Sunday (July 14) at around 9:30 p.m.

But he had gone by the time she went to retrieve him the following day.

She added: “We have searched the whole of Great Cornard. Friends and family have helped, looked and brought dogs out to help.

"He was sighted in a garden on Oxford Close - we went to check on Monday morning but he wasn't there, unfortunately."

Vik is still continuing to search for Ace and has asked everyone in the area to check their gardens for any sign of him.

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