wet baby skunk by Out at Bob's
One day you find a skunk under your deck. What do you do? Do you say, “Hello, cute little skunk. I’m so glad you have moved into my nature garden.” Or, “Little skunk, I know you’re part of nature, but you must find another home. Not in my back yard!”
One morning last week, and again the same evening, there was a very noisy critter on my back deck. It really sounded like something large bumbling about. I put on my nature detective cap and came up with the following possibilities of who might have moved in: groundhog (not, because they feed in the daytime); possum (possible – I know they’re in my neighborhood); skunk (hopefully not); raccoon or fox (both are in my neighborhood, but I’ve seen no signs of them in my yard).
I wasn’t really too excited about the idea that there could be a skunk out there under the deck. I mean, what would I do? Fortunately for me there was still snow around so I went out to have a good look for footprints. I came back in with several photos. After trying to match them with all of the above critters, I’m not sure if I was relieved, or disappointed, to decide that all I’d found were squirrel prints.
So, the squirrels in my yard are apparently trying to raid the squirrel-proof feeder at dawn and after dusk just to see if that’s different from daytime. That’s what I decided the loud noise was – squirrels leaping onto the metal feeder. It would have been nice to have a possum, but a skunk I’m not so sure about.
Have you ever had a skunk in your garden? Are skunks beyond your limit when it comes to back yard nature? Are you hoping never to find out?
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Oh no! I am not sure how I’d feel about a skunk… but I know that I wouldn’t be psyched if I went to take out the trash and met one of these critters; but meeting a fox isn’t on the top of my list either and I think they are cute.
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No skunks for me, either. Unless they agree not to spray. These days, we’ve had our fair share of raccoons coming to visit — though it took a bit of detective work on our part to figure out who are visitors were. Should be interesting to see if we get new visitors once we plant our garden.
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We have skunks in our neighbourhood, I haven’t seen them but I occasionally smell them in the evening. From a certain distance I don’t find their smell unpleasant. In any case, skunks are unlikely to spray unless they feel threatened, and they give warning before spraying. The Canadian Federation of Humane Societies has information on living with skunks.
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I’ve had two interesting skunk episodes in the past few years. The first happened when I was still living in Mexico, and it involves my dog acting strangely one day. The cause was a baby skunk under my bed! Eventually, he chased it out of there, caught it and killed it. All I can say is, thank god for tomato juice! P.S. I had to throw the bed away.
The second episode happened in downtown Montreal, just as I was staging my house in order to sell it. I found a very pregnant skunk living under my shed. Frankly, I was happy that the wildlife had elected to live in my backyard, so I left it alone. Shortly after, a serious buyer came along, a young man, and I felt that for the sake of transparency I had to declare the skunk’s presence to him. Well, guess what? He turned out to be crazy about skunks, and he made me an offer on the spot!
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Shannon, I’m surprised that you’d not relish meeting a fox. I’m pretty sure I’d love that!
Debi, I think the raccoons may prove a challenge with vegetable gardening. Perhaps I can find an answer for you.
Rosemary, thanks for the comment and for that great link. Now I know what to do if a skunk does move in, or maybe I’d better look at prevention.
Gina, what great stories. Thanks for sharing. Wow, how great that someone bought your house because of the skunk! The other story… not so great.
Once while camping, my mom and I left the showers after dark and saw something move slowly by. No idea why we were so curious, but we followed. We really thought it was probably someone’s dog, I think, and wanted to help it. What else would be in the center of all the activity at a campground, ambling around like it owned the place.
We almost caught it before realizing it was a skunk. Thankfully, it never even threatened to spray.
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