Pee-Yew! Spraying is judicious protection against physical injury . In a residential area skunks usually make a home under a garden shed, in a wood pile, a rock pile or in a ditch. We had 9 years of good “skunk karma” in which none of my dogs got skunked (of course I tried to prevent encounters) and it is still holding. "Skunks, to some degree, are a plague of affluence – the gorgeous, manicured, fed lawns," Fyffe said. Skunks love to dig into their nests and eat the larva. The younger you get one, the scent is not as strong. No, but avoid all contact with them since they can be a vector of rabies. Only when it passed under the light did I see the white stripes. I hope this makes everyone be more sympathetic to our skunk population. These stinging terrors nest in the ground and are sometimes called ground bees. When it’s near freezing, skunks become drowsy and sleep intermittently, but they do not truly hibernate. I find that variation very striking. Many years ago when we lived in Maine, I noticed that one of our young cats smelled slightly of skunk. Just please don’t spray. – August marks a time of change not only for humans, but wildlife as well. I’ve noticed a significant uptick in roadkilled skunks in the last month – most of them young. Perhaps you’ve noticed the same thing. Great article! My skunks must have gotten used to my pet less 4 acres and I can always tell when they have been around… Not odor but thier digging! I never once got a whiff of musk in the five years that we lived there. old riding over a Mt. Why are there so many dead skunks on the road? Distribution and abundance. Skunks, as night animals, are extremely sensitive to light. This Missouri mammal is more than meets the eye, or rather, nose. They are living under my barn which has a stone foundation that they easily get around! Please mention that outdoor cats also play a role in this. ), emit an oily musk from their anal glands. Skunk tracks are also usually staggered, unlike domestic cat prints, which are often on top of each other. Ahh thanks this explains so much! No luck. You’d have a chance at least. They venture out of their dens for short distances when temperatures are near the freezing mark and snow conditions are favorable. Striped skunks give birth to a litter of young, called kits, in the early spring. Thank you! we rescued albert/albertina during one horribly hot late summer…he/she was wonderfully smart and very understanding. The tomato juice didn’t work, but the pet store had a “stunk spray wash”. This is the church Sue and Peter got married. Hi Deanne, I suggest looking for a wildlife rehabilitation center near you and calling them for advice. Because their natural habitat surrounding our city is being taken from them for development, they are being pushed into residential areas in greater numbers. It eats the bird seed that falls from the feeder, I also let some of the corn out that we put out for the squirrels and deer. My poor dog learned the hard way one August, and I can tell you the peroxide/soda/soap mix works – apply while still fizzing, but not on the face. Discover nature and learn more about Missouri's smelliest mammal. Skunk litters are born from early May to early June. Pioneers called this small black and white animal a polecat, but the Algonquin Indians gave it the name everyone uses today—skunk. In fact, I sometimes see a mother and her kittens walking single file just across the creek from my house. While most skunks will be solitary outside of the mating season, in colder areas skunks will often share a den so that they can share their warmth during the colder weather, although these groups will usually be made up of one male and one or more females. Whenever possible we leave the limbs and trunk when we absolutely have to “cut”. The striped skunk characterized by a black body with a narrow white stripe on the forehead and wider stripes that extend from the neck along each side of the back. Why Are There So Many Skunks On Our Walking Trails? I think we have skunks living under our mobile Home the past year. On my drive to work this morning, I caught an unpleasant whiff of striped skunk several times. They run away if they here us walking in the yard. He has had at least 7 encounters with the smelly “cats”. We are in NE Tennessee. Trying to stay out of sight of the skunk, slowly and carefully lower the board. Members of these families use musk to mark Suddenly a rather perturbed skunk appeared in my flashlight beam. Given their propensity for spraying musk when threatened, you might think – given the high population likely living near you – you’d smell them all the time.