Skunk Facts

• Unmistakeable in their coloring, these animals also play a role in natural pest control in our cities, towns and rural areas. 

• Although they annoy farmers by raids on beehives and henhouses, it has been estimated that almost 70 percent of a skunk’s diet is beneficial to people and only five percent is harmful to human property.

• Although they are solitary and prefer to live in peace and avoid people they have suffered a loss of habitat and have moved into cities and towns. 

• They like to burrow and have claws well adapted to digging. 

• A natural dinner for a skunk would be insects, mice, shrews, ground squirrels, young rabbits, birds’ eggs, and various plants.

• During the autumn and winter they eat about equal amounts of plant and animal foods, but eat mainly insects in the summer. Skunks are especially fond of grasshoppers, crickets, and insect larvae such as white grubs, army worms, and cutworms.

• They will even eat wasps and bees, which they kill with their front feet.

• They are omnivorous and will eat both plant and animal matter.

• Breeding time for skunks is Feb to March and it takes approximately 54 days for a skunk to be born. 

• The mother will gather leaves on her foraging expeditions for her den by placing them under her body and then shuffling along with the leaves held between her legs. 

• Average litter size is four to seven babies. 

• By mid summer or around 6-8 weeks of age, they have been weaned and are adept at being on their own. 

• Very similar to raccoons, they will remain active all year long but will enter a state of torpor when temperatures dip below freezing.

• They also den in communal dens to conserve body heat during the colder winter months, when being alone is less important than being warm. 

• Up to 90% of skunks die in their first winter.

• In the wild skunks may live to be 2 to 3 years old.

• They are not good climbers so it’s not likely you’ll find one in a tree or on someone’s roof. 

• They prefer to live in ground burrows, spaces under sheds, decks, porches and in woodpiles, rock piles or even in garbage piles. 

• Removing a skunk without remedying the problem that attracted the skunk is not going to solve the problem.  Another skunk will move in.

• A good rainfall will bring them to garden areas and lawns where they have easy access to worms, grubs and other larvae.

• Uncovered compost piles will also act as a strong attractant for a skunk. 

• They are active primarily at dusk and dawn and generally aren’t seen in daylight hours. 

Keeping Safe Around Skunks

• The scent of the skunk is produced by a thick, yellow, oily fluid, or musk, secreted by two glands located on either side of the anus at the base of the tail.

• The glands are about the size of a grape and contain about a tablespoon of musk, enough for five or six discharges. The glands are connected by ducts to two small nipples that are hidden when the tail is down and exposed when the tail is raised..

• A skunk can spray 8 - 10 feet with great accuracy and the odour produced can be carried for up to 1 km on the wind.

• Skunks are usually quite docile animals and will only spray when they feel threatened.

• The musk is produced rather slowly, at a rate of about one-third of an ounce a week, and is discharged only as a last desperate measure after repeated warning signals.

• Skunks have a good sense of hearing, but their vision is very poor.

• They are mostly silent, but do make a variety of sounds such as churring, hisses, and screams. 

• If a skunk feels threatened,  it will give you advance warning first by stamping its front feet. 

• If you don’t retreat at that first warning, it will raise it’s tail, turn its rear end towards the threat and turn its head to look, and then spray. 

• If you encounter one while you are out walking, start speaking to it so it can judge how far away and where you are.  Stop for a moment and keep speaking, give the skunk a chance to move on.  This is one wild animal you don’t want to scare away so it’s best that you don’t make any loud noises or sudden movements and it will go out of its way to avoid you. 

• If you encounter a skunk that is acting abnormally, e.g. attacking inanimate objects, or other animals, acting aggressively towards you, call your local animal control or humane society for assistance. 

• Skunks, like raccoons are highly susceptible to canine distemper virus and it manifests in essentially the same way.  The skunk will be disoriented, confused, may be out in the daylight and may appear unsteady and staggering or lame in the back end. 

• Don’t approach a sick skunk.

• In end stages the virus attacks their brain and they can uncontrollably spray in such situations. 

• Even baby skunks can spray if they feel threatened or become frightened by a sudden loud noise or event (e.g. a dog charging them). 

Rabies In Skunks

• In Ontario, skunks remain a key vector species in the potential spread of rabies in Ontario. 

• In Ontario, the MNR has maintained air drop baits, hand dropped baits, and through Trap, Vaccinate, Release (TVR) programs along the border areas, helps to maintain a healthy population of vaccinated wildlife.  In short these efforts have prevented wildlife rabies from grabbing an uncontrolled foothold in the province. 

• There are however, small pockets of terrestrial rabies in skunks in certain areas of the province that periodically crop up.  Part of the difficulty is that specific vaccination baits that target only skunks, have not yet reached the final stages of development.

• Overall the ministry’s  efforts can be disrupted if  individuals engage in trapping and releasing wildlife outside the area they originated in.

• If you are bitten by any animal, wash the wound with copious amounts of soap and water, contact a doctor, and report the bite to your local Public Health Department (see listings in this directory). If possible, have someone keep the animal in sight so that it can be captured or confined.

• For more up to date and accurate information about rabies visit the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Rabies Research and Development Unit website:   http://rabies/mnr.gov.on.ca 

Skunk Proofing

• Because of their inability to climb, survey your property at ground level for loose or easily accessible garbage. 

• Skunks don’t have the adaptable and flexible paws that raccoons have so they aren’t good at removing well fitting lids on trash containers.  Plastic garbage bags are a breeze for them to tear apart however.

• Use repellents like ammonia, or naphtha flakes around the ground in garbage storage areas. 

• Place the containers so that they can’t easily be tipped over. 

• Don’t compost in open bins. 

• Refrain from feeding pets outdoors and from feeding wildlife.  Any uneaten food is a magnet for a wild animal. 

• Check around wood piles, rock piles and other areas where debris is piled up and clean those up. 

• Under porches, decks, sheds, above ground pools, spas and hot tubs are other areas they will access and potentially use for a home.

• Their poor climbing ability and vision also leaves them prone to falling into window wells and other excavations of that type.

• Should a skunk fall into a window well, slowly approach, while talking to it so it can sense where you are, and gently place a wooden plank down into one end of the well.  Leave the area and keep your pets away. 

• Don’t expect the skunk to be able to do a tight rope walk up a broom handle, so look for a wide enough board to use. 

• When it becomes dark, it will find its own way out using the board you lowered in for it. 

• Once it is gone, cover the window well to prevent it from happening again. 

Humane Eviction

• Sprinkle the area with flour and check for tracks to identify if it is a skunk.  If you can find the den entrance, cover it up by stuffing newspaper or rags into it.  If it has been pushed away, then you know someone is living in there. 

• Sprinkle the area around the entrance with naphtha flakes or used kitty litter. 

This can be used in conjunction with the three key things that can be done to discourage them from remaining in the den.

 

Three key things must be put in place simultaneously to evict them humanely.  This effort must be kept up for 3-4 days to achieve success.

 

Sound

• A radio set to a talk radio station, loud.

Light

• Use a work light or flashlight to illuminate the area or den. 

• If you use electrical lighting please ensure that your placement of the bulb will not start a fire. 

• Replace the flashlight batteries if they dim down.

Odour

• Place rags in empty margarine containers, dampen them with ammonia and place the covers back on them and punch holes in them for the odour to escape. 

• Place those at the entrance to the den and around the den and in the den if you can toss them in there. 

• Before tossing ammonia containers in, make sure that the babies, if there are any, can move away from the container.  These are strong odours and if a young baby cannot escape from it, they may die, so be judicious in where you place them. 

• Also keep in mind that very strong odours may also affect you, in your living space, so use your judgement in how much to apply.

• Use just enough to annoy the animals, not you.

 

• It is possible to install a one way door to allow the skunk to go out.  One way doors mean it can’t re-enter, however, if her babies are not mobile and able to follow her, they will die in that space without her.  Never use one way doors if the babies are not mobile.

• Once you are sure they have left, check again using flour to trace footprints and by continuing to block the entrance with newspaper and rags.  If you see no signs after a span of three to five days, it’s a safe bet they have left.  That’s the time to ensure you do a repair that prevents access by another wild animal.

• See the general section for advice on how to put up a dig proof barrier to that access point.

Skunk Feces

• Treat the same as for raccoons. 

Skunk Spray Antidote

Skunk spray contains thiol, a specific compound that tomato juice or vinegar are chemically incapable of breaking down. 

 

A simple remedy is this one: