There was a previous thread on this (in GQ), but I would like to start my own thread on this.
The situation: We live in downtown Oakland and are urbanites at heart, but all the houses in our neighborhood have large back yards, so it wasn’t uncommon to see a skunk or possum or raccoon wander around if we didn’t pull the cat food inside in time. Heck, we even had wild turkeys roaming amongst the houses for several months last fall.
But over the holidays (when we were taking time off work and had more time to observe things around the house), we noticed that (a) there weren’t just one or two skunks nearby, as we had assumed, but as few as 4, and maybe more, and (b) they were all living under the front stairs/porch of our next door neighbor.
Once we realized they were so close and were so many, we told her to call Animal Control. She did and–no surprise, I suppose–they’ll have nothing to do with it. The skunks are all mellow, but a couple of them are quite enormous. The AC guy said that once they find somewhere they like, they stay entrenched. And there is no easy way for a person to get into the crawlspace area that we now see them enter and exit from with greater regularity.
So what do we do? The aforementioned thread had lots of references to shooting/drowning/gassing them. I don’t see that being an option here (for legal reasons, if nothing else). If we trap them (which seems a dubious enterprise), what do we do with them? Our best hope is repelling them–what are our chances with that, and does anyone have a surefire method/product they care to recommend? Fortunately, our property is fairly secure so getting them out of her space means they’ll end up wandering…to a neighbor farther away, I suppose (which sucks, I guess, though again, without AC’s help, it seems driving them away to face life as roadkill or someone-else’s-problem is our only real solution).
My father had this exact problem. Animal control would not do squat and private firms wanted a mountain of cash.
He solved it by using a simple device: a cheap radio and an extention cord.
Turns out, skunks hate the sound of human voices, when they have no relief from them. Turn the radio to a 24 hour talk station. Turn the volume up. Position the radio close to where the skunks are living, but where they cannot get at it. Eventually, they will give up and move on (or at least, my dad’s unwelcome skunkly neighbours did).
ArchiveGuy, WildCare is your Bay Area
resource for wildlife problems. Give them a call.
I worked in wildlife rehabilitation for awhile, and a former(amazing) coworker is currently their Director of Animal Care. It’s a great organization, commited to treating wildlife humanely. Try them; you’re lucky to have such an experienced, professional group there. The linked page lists some costs if they have to do a professional visit, but don’t let that dissuade you. They will probably give you great info by phone.
Depending on how things are laid out and what you have available in the way of a handyman, you might be able to rig some sort of an exit-only door to the entrance to their burrow. Once they’ve gone out and have no way to get back in they will be forced to move on.
Yikes, now I’m all whupped up and worried, in my former Wildlife Rehab mode, which is to save a critter, and find it the proper place, Alive, and thriving (somewhere else). I do hope you go with WildCare, because they will relocate the skunks. They never kill a healthy animal.
Cause, well, I love skunks. Ya gotta love a creature that evolves so beautifully…“Leave me alone, please; I won’t rip your lungs out, but will leave a stink so you will let me be on my merry way. Oh, by the way, here’s a big ol’ furry black and white visual signal to remember that by…”
I read the OP about 3 times and have to ask, why exacty do you think you need to “get rid” of them? How are critters *living under your neighbor’s porch * bothering you?
Because we don’t want to walk up our front steps and constantly be running into a skunk (or 2 or 3).
Because they can carry rabies.
Because they’re tearing up our garden.
Because we were told by the AC guy that the skunks in question are probably female and probably pregnant, and we’d prefer not to live next to a freaking colony of them.
And they’ve already begun to really stink up our neighbor’s house, so we’re helping her get rid of them before they become an even bigger problem (for the aforementioned reasons).
Yeah, when the first one started coming by, we even named her (Beverly). Now my wife is saying “I wish we hadn’t thought they were so cute!” I hope things work out with WildCare because humanely addressing it would be our preferred way to go, too.
Someone is leaving food out for them, either pet food or easily accessible garbage. Skunks don’t hang around anywhere unless there is something to eat. Find where they’re going for dinner, eliminate that, and the the Pepe Le Peu convention will move on to greener pastures.
We have an outdoor cat, so we need to leave food out. We try to be good about bringing the food in before it gets dark, but in winter (when it gets dark at 5ish and we don’t get home from work until 7), that’s just not going to happen all the time.
We’re having the Wild Care people come by Monday for an assessment, but still keep the suggestions coming!
