A case has the Humane Society of Utah pleading with a judge to show "maximum sympathy."

A man who gave water in the heat of the summer to a captured skunk and moved the animal trap to an area with more shade is scheduled to go on trial Thursday on a charge of wrongful appropriation.

"I think this is about the most ridiculous case I have ever been involved in," said defense attorney Susanne Gustin, who represents Ryan Turner, the man charged in August with a misdemeanor by the South Salt Lake City Attorney's Office.

"Why they're coming down on Ryan is really baffling."

In August, Turner was having a skunk problem on his property, according to the South Salt Lake City Attorney's Office. He called the city and was given the option of renting an animal trap or having the city place one just outside his property, on the city's property. Turner chose the second option, according to prosecutors.

At some point after the trap was set up, a skunk was caught in it. By the time Turner found it, however, it was midday and the temperature was nearing 104 degrees, Gustin said. The trap had essentially become an oven, said Humane Society executive director Gene Baierschmidt.

Turner tried to give the skunk water and then moved the animal and the trap a few feet to an area of shade. When city employees returned to retrieve the trap, it was near Turner's house, according to the police report.

"We believe he did the humane thing and what most animal lovers would do," Baierschmidt said. "We don't think any living creature should have to put up with such conditions."

In late September, Turner received a summons charging him with trespassing. In December, the charge was amended to wrongful appropriation, a class C misdemeanor. A wrongful appropriation charge is defined as someone temporarily depriving someone of their property without their permission to use it for their own benefit.

Other than discussing the facts already laid out in the police report, South Salt Lake prosecutor Paul Roberts said Wednesday it was not appropriate for him to comment on an open case, but he could talk about it once it was resolved.

The Humane Society is fully backing Turner and calling for a "mass protest" via phone calls and faxes to the South Salt Lake City Attorney's Office.

"I think they're making a bigger issue out of this than there really should be," Baierschmidt said. "We hope the situation can be resolved quickly and amicably with everyone and he doesn't have to pay a fine or anything else."

"It's really mind blowing they're going forward with this," Gustin said. "(Turner) absolutely feels like he did the right thing and would do it all over again."

Both Baierschmidt and Gustin said the traps were supposed to be checked every couple of hours, but in this case weren't.

"(The animals) shouldn't have to suffer before they are euthanized," Baierschmidt said.

The reality is that there are a lot of skunks in the Salt Lake Valley, he added. Although the Humane Society would like to see non-lethal methods employed to take care of the problem, Baierschmidt said his office is not arguing against the traps themselves, but the way in which they were monitored.

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