Blue Ridge Country March/April 2020 - 12

C R E AT U R E F E AT U R E

Causing a Stink
Debunking myths about skunks.
By NANCY HENDERSON
ACCLAIMED WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER AND WRITER, DR. WILLIAM J. WEBER

epe Le Pew's feline targets of affection may
have rejected him for his smelliness and persistently amorous approach (plus the fact that
he wasn't really a cat) but the Looney Tunes
skunk wasn't the only one to get a bad rap.
Many folks fear that the animals are roaming
the countryside, looking for someone to spray.
That's just the stuff of myth and cartoons, says Brent
Womack, a wildlife biologist with the Georgia Dept. of
Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division.
"Spraying is just a last-ditch effort at predator avoidance, or to try to change a potential predator's mind.
They don't do it unless they feel like they need to," he
says. "It's not something they are actively pursuing, but
it is a very effective mechanism to get other animals to
leave them alone."
Two types of skunks live in the Blue Ridge area: the
cat-size striped species and the smaller, less common
spotted one. The truth is they don't see well, especially at night when they're foraging along
fencerows, woodpiles and embankments.
"So they're not going to be keying in
on their use of vision to get around the
world," Womack points out. "They're using their nose mostly and their sense of
hearing as well."
In fact, skunks tend to emit a milder
version of their trademark, sulfur-based
aroma all the time, which explains why
some homeowners sniff out the critters
that set up housekeeping under a house
or other building. "It wouldn't be as
loud as if they had sprayed," Womack notes. "But it's around them, so
they're probably pretty blind to the
smell and don't really notice it."
Unfortunately for the skunks, the
same goes for their natural predators-
barred, great horned and other large
owls. The spray has no effect on the birds
because of their poor sense of smell.
A skunk's pre-spray posture is hard to

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ignore. Most of the time, it will turn around, do a handstand on its front feet, lift its hind legs and tail in the
air, and release the foul secretion up to 15 feet away. The
scent can travel for a mile.
Pets are more susceptible to getting sprayed than humans, Womack says. "Usually, when there's an altercation between a skunk and a dog, the dog has started it
and the skunk finishes it."
One of the reasons Blue Ridge residents see-and
smell-more dead skunks on the road in winter is because that's when they're mating.
"The males will be out roaming, looking for receptive
females, and they're covering more ground and have
a little more of a one-track mind," Womack says. "So
they tend to get hit by vehicles more than they do other
times of the year."
The females generally give birth to their young in
May and June, when food is abundant. Their preference
for crickets, beetles and other insects, along with
small rodents, helps keep the pest population in
check.
So what can you do if the skunks become
pests by burrowing under your house? Womack
suggests throwing mothballs into the hole.
Wild animals, including the stinky
kind, don't like the smell but the
mothballs are harmless. Once
the critters leave the nesting
spot, close the entrance.
While all mammals can carry
rabies, says Womack, just because
you see a skunk in the daytime,
especially if it's behaving normally,
doesn't mean it's rabid.
"Having said that, they are
wild animals, so you always
want to make sure children
don't try to interact with
them, including a skunk.
Put your dog up for the
time being and respect its
space."

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Blue Ridge Country March/April 2020

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