Dec. 24 (UPI) -- A sanitation worker in Alberta rescued a skunk he found inside a discarded wildlife trap that had been placed in a garbage bag.

Marc Sinclair, a sanitation worker in Red Deer, captured video Dec. 20 when he looked inside a garbage bag and found the caged skunk still alive.


"I grabbed a particular bag and it felt like there was a cage in it. So I threw it in the truck, as people put away cages all the time, but it just felt a little wrong, so I decided to investigate," Sinclair told the Red Deer Advocate.

"So I tore the bag open and it turned out the skunk was alive and scared and freaked out," he said. "It wasn't making noise or anything."

Sinclair, who said it was the first time he had ever found a live animal in the trash, said he decided to set the skunk free.

"To be crushed slowly and suffocated in the garbage truck is extremely, extremely inhumane and brutal and that was not cool," he said.

The worker said he reported the incident to local animal services authorities.

Marilyn Moore, waste diversion specialist with the City of Red Deer, said Sinclair did the right thing.

"It's something that hasn't happened that I'm aware of in the past, so there's no procedure, but the little guy was released and all was well, and we're happy that happened," she said.