Skirting Skunks

The other night I heard a high-pitched squeak and squeal from outside and went to see what was going on.  It was too high-pitched for a woodchuck and didn't sound like a cat, and it wasn't either one.  It was a beautiful little skunk.  You might think that's a strange thing to say, but they do have luxurious fur like an Abyssinian cat.  You might even mistake a skunk for a cat if it's dark enough.  I missed seeing what it was upset about, but very grateful it only squealed and didn't use its ultimate weapon while it was on my patio.  This was the first skunk I'd actually seen all summer.  Look at the gorgeous fur and tail on this guy.

Striped skunk    Source:  Wikipedia

I've had a several encounters with skunks - two in particular that come to mind and both occurred while I was living in Colorado.  One was when I was in an apartment complex in Loveland.  The apartment building was almost like a motel with outside entrances to each apartment.  I lived on the second floor and there was a balcony that looked down on the first floor.  I heard a noise one night and looked out to see a skunk getting into a paper bag of food trash that somebody had left on the balcony.  Its head was inside a mini potato chip bag and was so totally engrossed in licking the salt out of the bag it went right over the balcony!  It scared itself silly and the smell of the spray immediately hit the air.  I ran down the stairs to see if it was hurt, but didn't ever see it.  It must have been okay and run off as soon as it hit bottom, thoroughly embarrassed I'm sure.

Source:  Wikipedia

Another encounter was a little more involved and occurred after I had moved from Loveland to Aurora, CO, a suburb of Denver.  This apartment complex was very nicely landscaped with lots of trees and rocks - the perfect place for a skunk burrow.  There were people in the complex that had dogs and they complained about the skunks so a company was brought in to capture them.  I came out of my apartment one morning to see a skunk caught in a live trap.  I seriously thought about trying to release it from the trap, but was dressed ready to go to work and didn't want to get sprayed.  We were told they were going to relocate them.  ALL LIES!!  I learned later that once they caught them they had to euthanize them.  When I found that out, I could have kicked myself for not at least trying to set it free.  Especially since the next day a neighbor and I were sitting on the rock the trap had been sitting next to and suddenly we heard little squeaking noises coming from under the rock.  There were babies!  My neighbor helped get two babies out and I kept them in a shoebox on top of a water bottle overnight until I could get them to a wildlife rehabilitator.  (Trust me when I tell you that even baby skunks stink - and I'm not talking about their spray.)  The only problem was the next day, we heard more noises and found two more babies!  Those also went the way of the first.  Unfortunately, only three of the babies survived, but at least we saved those.

Source:  Wikipedia

I was informed much later that they were named Fred, Ethel, and Lucy and once they were big enough they would be allowed to roam free in the woods behind the rehaber's house.

Skunks eat insects, including grasshoppers and crickets, snails, mice, bird eggs, lizards, salamanders, fruit, grains, nuts and leaves depending on the season and what food is available. 

Of course, the most familiar skunk is the striped skunk found in the U.S., southern Canada and northern Mexico.  But there are twelve species of skunks including spotted skunks and hog-nosed skunks.  Most are found in the Americas, but two species known as stink badgers (how appropriate!) are found in Indonesia and the Phillipines. 

Western Spotted Skunk    Source:  Wikipedia

I was curious about the skunk I saw Friday night so I followed it a little way to my neighbor's house.  It was hunting in the grass next to the curb - probably hunting for crickets.  I was very happy to see one rather than smell one.