We Provide Humane Skunk Trapping, Removal and Damage Repair Services
throughout New Jersey and Staten Island, NY

Common Nuisance Situations:

Striped Skunk

Calls peak in February and March, when they're mating. In May and June, calls are usually related to their grubbing in lawns. This picks up again in late July, continuing through mid–October. Also during that period, we get calls about "rabid" skunks that are active during the daytime.

Why Are They Damaging My Property ?

Skunk Tracks

Skunk Scat

1. Seeking a sheltered place to raise their young. They may den under porches, decks, foundations, garages, barns, or sheds.
    
2. Stinking up the place. Skunks can be very smelly, especially from the mating season through the whelping season, if the female fights off a male. If the smell seems to come and go, and is more noticeable at dawn or dusk, or with a shift in wind direction, or seems to be coming from an area with evergreen trees, it might be the odor of a great horned owl. These owls commonly eat skunks.
    
3. Defending themselves. Skunks are a mild-mannered, slow-moving, mind-your-own-business kind of animal. If provoked, they may spray people or pets. Their spray can reach up to 16 feet. Skunks can spray once they're 2–4 weeks old. They can spray up to six times in a row, then need a day to "recharge."
    
4. They'll fall into window wells while searching for insects and toads, and then become trapped.
    
5. Skunks dig in lawns for grubs. They'll sometimes scratch beehives in search of honey and insects, or raid poultry houses for eggs and chickens (but that's rare, and such damage is more likely the work of a raccoon).
    
6. Disease risks: Rabies (they are a rabies vector species in New York), distemper.

Common Myths About Skunks:

• A skunk that's active during the day isn't necessarily rabid. It may be a healthy female that's feeding more often than usual, because of the demands of her young.
   
• Adult skunks are not trigger-happy but "teenaged" skunks may be. Very young skunks squirt small amounts of fluid as they walk because they're not yet mature enough to have control of the "spray muscles." If you can "talk skunk," you can usually tell if an adult skunk intends to spray.
   
• Grubbing by skunks is sometimes blamed on other animals because there's no skunk smell. Skunks spray in defense.

Description:

Coat thick, fluffy, mainly black; large white nape patch continues as two stripes along sides of back, usu. reaching tail (occasionally mostly white above); narrow white forehead stripe. Head pointed; ears and eyes small. Legs short; tail long, very bushy. Eats insects, rodents, bird and turtle eggs, fruit, roadkills, garbage.
Caution If threatened, raises tail, backs up, may stomp ground; may very quickly emit foul-smelling, sulphurous spray that travels to 15', stings eyes of predators, pets, humans.
Sign: Strong musky odor if one has sprayed or been run over recently, scratched-up lawns and garbage bags. Tracks: round 1" foreprint; hindprint broader at front, flat-footed, 1 1/2".
Breeding: 6-7 young in May.
Habitat: Woods, fields, farmlands, towns.
Activity: Dusk to dawn; dens up and sleeps much of winter in colder areas.
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