Skunks
 

I was just reading the lightening bug thread and it dawned on me that someone out in Fodorland might know the answer to a question that's been bugging me for awhile now. For the past three or four years, we've noticed that there seem to be a lot more skunks around. Up until last week, it was just a matter of smelling them frequently. But early one evening last week, my daughter and I saw 4 young skunks crossing the road near our home.

It's not just around here that we've noticed the increase. Seems everywhere we've gone these past few summers, we've experienced more frequent "perfumed" evenings.

Which (finally!) leads me to my question. Has anyone heard or read anything about a dramatic increase in the skunk population the past few years?

No.

Skunk populations run in cycles. Be wary of near, fearless ones as that can be a sign of rabies.

I can only guess that increased building in usually undeveloped wooded areas is driving them into areas they don't normally go. That's been the case in the Atlanta 'burbs with deer. My sister sees them in her backyard nearly every day. They love nibbling on her flowers.

I had a pet skunk once. Carnations were her favorite!

Skunks, deer, foxes, raccoons, and opossums are all becoming increasingly adept suburbanites. Ditto with coyotes, bobcats and rattlesnakes in the west.

Just last year, a family of skunks lived under our deck. Mamma and her babies would venture out in the dark across the yard to go "do their thing".

We used to pray that they wouldn't get frightened under our bedroom windows :)

I have also witnessed a live birth of a baby fawn in our yard.

A red fox every now and again.

A coyote (scary creature).

And lastly, an eagle - huge wingspan. Of course, no one in my family believed I actually saw one, but I did!

My yard has turned into a regular zoo.

I've noticed an abundance of groundhogs this year. Four - six at a time!

obxgirl: Coyotes are well-established now in urban Eastern areas, too. Boston TV news often has stories of suburban encounters between coyotes and people or pets. Just yesterday a neighbor came over to advise us that coyotes had been seen in our neighborhood, a 5-minute walk from the Boston city line.

Anonymous, YIKES! Batten down the cats!

Skunks go where the food is (sort of like those of us asking for restaurant suggestions here). If you have a lot of skunks on your property, you likely have a lot of grubs in your lawn. For some reason known only to skunks, they like to eat these. Kill the grubs and the skunks will dine elsewhere.

LOL, "batten down the cats" :D

Here in Jax, we have Armadillos!! I have not seen one live on yet, but daily, you can see their corpses on the roads :(

I saw a live armadillo for the first time a few months ago. It was snuffling in the dirt along a road.

A few years ago, I was in a hotel with my parents in West Jefferson, NC (near Blowing Rock, NC) and all of a sudden a VERY strong skunk smell came under the door. It was really terrible - we were choking! But we laugh about it now!

Thanks for all the responses! Sounds like it's all part of the encroaching suburbs thing. As others have mentioned, we do also see lots of opossums, raccoons, etc. I guess we're just more aware of the skunks because the scent seems to be getting so pervasive!

I live in southern NH and both my wife and I recently commented on what seemed to be more skunks than usual.

I go out each night to give the dog a last chance and see a skunk just about every night. Lot's of road kill and fragrant evenings.

mm

I live in a very busy city neighborhood and have noticed the smell of skunk a LOT in the past year. I haven't see one, but have definitely smelled them! It's unusual.

There are definitely more skunks than ever before in my southern Ct. suburban neighborhood. A neighbor has helped the problem immensely by trapping eight of the animals and dispatching them. They aren't all gone but I can now sit on my deck at dusk with much less apprehension.

Florida1, my step-dad and his wife live in West Jefferson :)
Pretty up there, isn't it?

To OP - CAPH52 - now you know why you have so many skunks. Roy has been trapping them and letting them lose in your neighborhood.

Yes Scarlett, it is beautiful up there! I went to a girls camp there when I was younger and we go up there fairly often still. Ashe County Cheese is always a favorite shopping stop!

So that's it, Gail!!

Anonymous: We live about 15 minutes outside of Boston. Our part of town is quite developed as it's the old part of town. And coyotes have been spotted in our yard twice--once by us, once by a neighbor! Makes me nervous when the kids go out to play. I keep a constant eye on them. Fortunately, our dog is bigger than any coyote!

klw, do not be overconfident about your dog. Coyotes rarely travel alone, they are used to hunting in packs and could give your pup a really hard time if they wanted to.

It is possible that there is more food around for the skunks, for whatever reason, and thus a population increase. Or whatever preys on skunks in your area has had a population decrease. If there's a local wildlife hotline, phone them and ask what you can do to discourage the skunks. Whatever you do, don't use poison!

Example of a vicious circle: Owls prey on skunks. You put poison out for the skunks. They eat it, the owls eat the skunks and get secondary rodenticide poisoning. The owl population is reduced, the skunk population increases. Opposite result to what you wanted. Try putting up an owl box instead, to encourage them.

More info on this topic here:
http://www.hungryowl.org/

To discourage skunks from living under our porch, we used light and sound -- a timer with a light that came on at dusk and a radio tuned to Talk Radio. This worked great, but we didn't share our solution with the neighbors. I expect that this unwelcome atmosphere would also discourage other critters from taking up residence under porches or in attics (raccoons, squirrels, bats, etc.).

Bats are good -- they eat the mosquitoes. We have some that live way up high in a pine tree near our deck. They used to freak me out, but lately I enjoy watching them fly back and forth around dusk. Interesting creatures.

Bats are fantastic creatures. Not only do they eat tons of mosquitos, but you wouldn't believe how much poorer the world would be without them. They are instrumental in pollinating a lot of plants, including avocados, bananas, figs, mangoes, and peaches.

We have several bat houses to keep them around because they are beneficial to our environment.

We don't grow mangoes and bananas in Boston, and bats carry rabies. All of Mother Nature's creatures are wonderful in their own way, but there are some that I don't want in my house, thanks.

The bats don't live in my house. They live outside where they belong :)

Yes, agreed, bats are good but they belong outdoors. That's why I mentioned them above in my discussion about discouraging animals from taking up residence under porches or in attics.

Of course you don't want bats in your house, Anonymous (or your belfry). But they get such a bad rap and they are really beneficial creatures.

The way to discourage any animal from living in your attic, under your deck, whatever, is to make sure they do not have access to the area. Again, anyone having this sort of problem should contact a local wildlife hotline or if there is nothing like that in your area, the Humane Society may be able to help.

Anonymous--actually, I do know that about coyotes. Our dog always goes into his pen when he goes out, unless we're outside as well. But I do think his presence sometimes discourages other animals. We rarely see skunks or raccoons in the yard. He's a big old malamute, only about 100 pounds, but he looks like he weighs 150 with all his fur!

Marilyn, I cannot figure out how the skunks get under the deck since we have lattice enclosing it. There must be a way, unknown to our eyes, that they are getting in. The really don't bother me though.

What does bother me, is the fighting and screaming noises that happen in the middle of the night. Some creatures are getting into a fight -- don't know what or who actually wins, but the noise sends shivers down my spine!

We have a sky full of bats here every night. I love it because we also have a yard full of mosquitos and who knows what else!
We also have a pair of huge owls.
Happy to say though, not a single skunk :)

We have an owl too, Scarlett! And baby birds in the bird house my sons built about 15 years ago! I think they are getting ready to leave soon :(

I love bats - I actually have a bat house but wouldn't tell that to my neighbors :-)

Although I did have a conversation with a friends 5 yr old about how bats eat mozzies and we sat in the yard watching them swooping overhead. She now declares that she loves bats - catch the kids young and you can educate them :-)

This afternoon I looked out the front of the house and there was a deer (I assume a youngster since he was on his own) he walked through the yard and ate my hostas - I don't mind, I didn't plant them. He did leave my other plantings alone , but then I planted them because they're deer resistant.

Also, Groundhog, ground squirrel, squirrel, and i have a wonderful picute of a falcon eating 6ft from my family room window, but no coyote yet, thanks

seetheworld, the skunks must be getting in there somehow. If you find an entry, just be sure there are no animals (including babies) under there when you close it off.

The fighting and screaming could very well be raccoons if you have them in your area. I've heard them in the middle of the night and it does sound awful!

"catch the kids young and you can educate them" -- alya, exactly! I work with an organization in Marin County, just north of San Francisco, that has a wildlife rehab hospital and also does nature education with kids in the classroom, on nature walks, and at camps. More info at www.wildcaremarin.org (new, improved website coming soon)

marilyn

the really funny thing is that I have an open compost heap - the food is there for the taking, my friend who lives 5 doors down has racoons who visit every night and fight to remove the lid from her trash can - I also have a veg patch near the compost heap that they have never visited. I have no clue why not but we do get lots of deer, they don't touch the veg patch either.

Sat with one of my cats late Sunday and watched a skunk walk through our front yard. I swear that Becky looked at me and said, "no way"!

Let me know when the websites up and running

alya, there is probably meat, chicken, or fish in your neighbor's trash, but not in your compost, right? Raccoons (like humans) are omnivores. Sounds like there's enough around that they haven't had to resort to veggies yet.

Years ago we used to feed the raccoons that came to our back door. (I know better now!) They never bothered our cat and even sometimes ate from the same dish at the same time. Yikes, if I had known then what I know now...NO WAY!