Striped Skunk

Me with one of my striped, but stinky, charges.

Mephitis mephitis

Have you been noticing more Skunk funk lately and it isn’t your downstairs neighbors waking and baking for a change? That is because it is Skunk breeding season! You’ll probably also see more Skunks along the side of the road, likely because male Skunks are so focused on finding a mate they are paying less attention to potential dangers such as cars.

Contrary to popular belief, Skunks would rather not spray you. They usually give you lots of warnings. Skunks will charge and do handstands and only spray as a last resort. It takes a while for their scent glands to “recharge,” so they would rather not use their caustic musk. The most noticeable warning they provide is their black and white coloration. These warning colors, or aposematism in animals, are nature’s danger signs. You see these contrasting colors in many unpalatable or potentially dangerous animals such as bees, poison dart frogs, and coral snakes.

Skunks get a bad wrap that is undeserved. They may be stinky, but they are mostly sweet. When I was a child, a mother Skunk had her babies in our garage. Every evening, she would either lead kits through the gap under our garage door, or wander into the connected laundry room if my mom was there and wait for her to open the door leading outside.

Skunks can be kept as pets in some states once their scent glands are removed. We had an education Skunk at Heritage Park Zoological Sanctuary. Her name was Minkers and she was the sweetest thing ever! That being said, you should never attempt to pick up or handle a wild skunk, even babies, not only because of their spray, but they are also rabies vectors, meaning they can carry the rabies virus, which is fatal to humans.

Skunks can sometimes be considered a nuisance animal because they can live in suburban areas. I had a friend recently contact me about a Skunk under her deck. Skunks cannot be relocated due to potential disease transmission, so any pest control agency that tells you they are doing that is either lying to you or they are breaking the law. Your best bet is always exclusion, sealing off any areas an animal might enter. If they are already there, try some gentle hazing with lights and noise. They are looking for somewhere dark and quiet, so if you make it uninviting, they should leave and you can seal up the entrance.

People also don’t like them around because they may tear up part of your garden. They have long claws for digging, but they are using them to find grubs, rodents, and other garden pests to eat, so Skunks are actually quite beneficial to have around!

I’ve always liked Skunks, but I really fell in love with them the season at California Wildlife Center when I was tasked with feeding all the orphaned babies. I was one of the few staff members with the rabies pre-exposure vaccine, so I got the job. I had to wear two sets of gloves because even as babies, Skunks have very sharp teeth. Had I been bitten, we would have had to euthanize the baby to test them for rabies, and we didn’t want that.

I learned quickly that if you tuck their tail under, they can’t spray. It didn’t mean they didn’t still lunge and threaten me, which was more adorable than scary. It was bittersweet to return them to the wild, but that was where they needed to be.
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Next time you see a Skunk, give them a second look because they are adorable, but from a safe distance!

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Another one of my patients with spectacular markings

Ryan Hodnet, Wikimedia Commons