Date: Fri 12-Sep-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

skunks-animal

Full Text:

with cut:

Skunks!

It's 10 pm: Do You Know Where Your Dog Is?

B Y D OROTHY E VANS

The evening is winding down and you figure you might as well get to bed early.

Turning off the downstairs lights, you're ready to go upstairs - except

there's the spaniel sitting at the front door begging to go out.

Odd. She doesn't usually want to go again this late at night.

You open the door. She doesn't wait, but shoves aside the screen and is gone

like a shot.

What the heck?

As she disappears round the corner of the garage, her excited barking disturbs

the peaceful neighborhood. Why the sudden fuss? Better get her back inside

again right away.

Calling her name, you hurry down the hall to the back door.

As you pass through the kitchen, you become aware of an strangely sulfurous

odor. This time, the nose is way ahead of the brain because you just don't get

it yet. Not until you open the back door and find her waiting on the step,

wagging her tail in excitement.

She's looking up at you and smiling her doggy smile and she smells horribly of

skunk.

She's been zapped - and it took less than four minutes. Disaster. Your plans

to read in bed while she sleeps are out the window. This will be a long night

after all.

"Skunked" is what we call it when the family dog gets sprayed by those

infamously distinctive and disruptive black-and-white polecats. And it seems

that the skunks living in Newtown and surrounding towns have been working

overtime lately.

"We've had quite a few skunkings, with more dogs coming in to be washed," said

Debbie Corcione, a groomer and wildlife rehabilitator who works at the Mount

Pleasant Hospital for Animals at the intersection of Route 6 and Route 25.

Is this a natural phenomenon unique to Newtown?

"I have a groomer friend in New Fairfield who told me last week she'd treated

at least one skunking a day," she said, commenting that seemed like quite a

lot.

Don't Startle A Sick Skunk

Ms Corcione also said she'd had an unusually large number of sick skunks

brought in over this past summer, which could be a reflection of an increase

in the skunk population.

Or it might mean that a particular parasite or virus was spreading among

skunks and was affecting not only their health, but their general behavior

patterns.

Perhaps, not feeling up to par, skunks are more likely to go off.

Either way, one should steer clear of skunks at all costs, especially at night

when they're more likely to be out foraging.

Nancy Huttings, receptionist at Cassio Kennels on 173 Mount Pleasant Road,

said that late summer and early fall is the time skunks seem to be most

active.

"We have had a few incidents," she admitted and advised people walking their

dogs at night to be careful not to startle the animals.

"That's all it takes," Ms Huttings said.

"The biggest thing is for people to walk their dogs on a leash. Then they

won't get into trouble," Ms Corcione said.

"Skunks are nocturnal. If you see one wandering around during the day that is

sick or hungry, it may just be ill and you should leave it alone. If it is

behaving very strangely, call a local animal control officer or the state DEP

office," she said.

Ms Corcione did say that the sick skunks she treated this summer weren't

rabid. Although skunks do get rabies, they aren't as likely to carry the

infection as are raccoons.

Golf Divots

Or Skunk Diggings?

Most people aren't actually seeing skunks they are smelling them, especially

in the evenings when the varmints choose to roam through backyards making the

rounds of neighborhoods in search of food.

Most likely, the skunks are looking for garbage on trash day or they've found

uneaten bits of hamburger and watermelon wedges tossed in the bushes by

children after a barbecue, and they are coming back for more.

"Skunks scavenge. They eat a wide variety of things including insects and

eggs," said Paul Rego, Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) wildlife

biologist specializing in fur bearing animals.

The Newtown Bee reached Mr Rego September 3 in his Session Woods office.

Asked whether the skunk population was on the upswing in Western Connecticut,

Mr Rego was conservative in his reply.

"We don't have good information. Skunks are difficult and expensive to

monitor. Just based on complaints and calls, though, there might be a slight

increase," he allowed.

They are susceptible to distemper virus, though that "doesn't seem to be an

annual pattern."

And there is speculation that as raccoon populations drop, skunks or possums

might be benefiting, he said.

"Their diet of insects is witnessed by people finding holes in their lawn like

golf divots. When a small patch of turf is gone, that's evidence that a skunk

has been digging for grubs," Mr Rego said.

What To Do?

If you smell skunk, stay inside and keep the dog in.

If you think you've got a skunk living on your property, Mr Rego advised

residents to be sure that all crawl spaces under sheds and decks are closed

off.

"Skunks will go into a den during winter," he explained, but it's not a true

hibernation because in the middle of a warm spell, they'll come out again.

If you've got a skunk trapped in a window well or fallen into a swimming pool,

call an animal control officer. They'll know what to do.

"Believe it or not, skunks are reluctant to spray. People brave and

experienced enough will pick them up by the tail," Mr Rego said.

Apparently, there's an old wives' tale that if you pick up a skunk, it can't

spray because it needs to be able to brace itself with four legs on the

ground.

But that might not be true, Mr Rego warned. If you see a skunk and he starts

to turn around so his head is facing the other way, run.

And if your dog does get zapped, there are remedies. Tomato juice or V-8 are

considered effective. Lacking those, this home remedy has been recommended by

veterinarians:

Mix and apply one quart hydrogen peroxide with ¬ cup baking soda and one

teaspoon liquid detergent.

The baking soda and detergent are easy but it's best to keep the quart of

hydrogen peroxide on hand just in case.

Another caution: hydrogen peroxide is a bleach and tomato juice stains, so

it's better to wash a skunked dog outside.

Hopefully, now that we've got all this information we won't need it.