March 2006 Vol. 25. No. 3

Published by the Humboldt Senior Resource Center in Eureka, California. HSRC is a non-profit community-based organization offering services for senior citizens, multi-generational families and caregivers.

Knight on a white horse: Jace Comfort to the rescue

Make Medicare drug plan choices early

Dial-A-Ride: Long-desired service has been extended to residents on Humboldt Hill, Manila, Samoa, Old Arcata Road

Area Agency on Aging: Get nomination petition now for California Senior Legislator elections to be held in April

Beginning March 7 - Living more comfortably with disabilities

Fortuna: Ron Bremer to conduct genealogical seminar

Animal protection Connecting animal cruelty and human violence

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Top: Jace Comfort gingerly drapes the cage at the Nielsen-McFarland corn patch on Arcata Bottoms in October. Bottom left, Jace hog ties the caged skunk. Center: Ready to roll. Right: Bye-bye to Mr. Skunk. Photos by Carol McFarland

Jace Comfort, the "government" trapper, is the man you call when you cannot deal with skunks under the house, raccoons in the corn patch or bears in the garbage.

My husband, Don Nielsen, and I met Jace a few years ago after we lost Candy, our energetic little spaniel, who used to scare small critters away from our flourishing garden. In her absence, various wild animals began stopping by to graze on our compost and ripening vegetables.

None of the usual animal control agencies would venture to help with our skunk problem that year, but Jace brought a trap and showed us how to bait and set it - with peanut butter, of all things. We soon trapped our problem and saved the rest of our sweet corn crop.

This fall, Jace again brought the trap and removed the raccoon which had been systematically mowing his way through our veggies. In the midst of this campaign, Don departed for his annual Chalk Mountain hunting expedition, assuring me that if any more corn bandits showed up, Jace would handle it.

Each morning I noticed a few more cornstalks bent to the ground, and the litter of half-eaten cobs told me that the bandit was back.

I set the trap, and next morning to my dismay - from the distance of my porch - I saw the unmistakable black-and-white fur ball that could only be a skunk.

Remembering Jace's comment the last time he removed a skunk, I hedged when he asked, "Is it a skunk?"

"Well, it's in a shadow and I can't see it too clearly," I said as my nose started to get longer. "OK, " he sighed, "I'll be right over."

To make amends, I came clean when he pulled into the driveway, but he took it with good grace. "Have you got a sheet?" he said, and like a cowpoke hog-tying a calf in slow motion, he draped the sheet over, around and under the cage with the help of a pitchfork.

Watching from a safe distance as the delicate dance proceeded, Jace soon lifted the cage gingerly and placed it in the back of his pickup.

Amazingly Mr. Skunk did not spray his usual unpleasant odor.

Not surprisingly, Jace's expertise is in high demand. In previous years, his crew included two other trappers, but cuts in the county budget have left him to patrol a region extending from Crescent City to Petrolia - a virtually impossible task.

If Jace has hauled away one of those bothersome critters for you, let your county supervisor know the value of his work so that the county appropriates more funds for helpers in the next budget. And try not to invite skunks into your garden.