Many years ago, our love affair with skunks began. One incident occurred when a landowner, not quite so in love as we are, put out a have-a-heart trap to get rid of a skunk. He caught the adult, but unfortunately, she gave birth during the night to seven kits. The landowner felt guilty, so he propped open the trap to let her leave. She grabbed what she could and ran. Like her close look alikes, the mustelid family (otters, mink, weasels), she did not return for the rest. There were four naked, very chilled kits left in the trap.
At this time, we were driving once a week to colleagues in Augusta to exchange any raccoon kits we had gotten in for anything they had, they were crazy about raccoons. It happened to be that day that they received the newborn skunks, and we were thrilled. They were surprisingly sturdy and grew well. Baby skunks can spray when they are ten days old, long before their eyes open, but by then they were quite used to us, and we had no quarrels. Their naked bodies soon were covered with fuzz, but each had individual markings that corresponded to the markings they were born with.
When they were older, they played with each other all day long, practicing their stomping and sometimes their spraying. They make a wonderful buzzing noise when they play. They began to eat the kind of wild foods that should endear them to homeowners: small rodents, insects, and vegetation. Many people wish that they wouldn’t live under their front porches, but they are gentle creatures who won’t spray unless really bothered. They also can be evicted from a space. Call us and we can help without trapping and moving. That litter grew up successfully and were released, and many hundreds have followed. Wonderful animals and one of our favorites!
