Not only do people live in cities and suburbs, but so do many other animals, including skunks. These adaptable animals often end up in our neighbourhoods. Their appearance can cause problems sometimes, but it’s possible to live with them without any problems. This guide talks about how to live together peacefully with skunks and other animals that live in cities.
Figuring Out How Skunks Act
Skunks are famous for their unique looks and strong smell, but they are also very important to the ecosystems of cities. To live with skunks without a problem, you need to know how they act:
- What they eat: Skunks are greedy omnivores. They eat many things, like bugs, small mammals, fruits, veggies, and trash from people. There are usually lots of food sources for them in cities and suburbs.
- Nocturnal: Skunks are mostly nocturnal, which means they are most busy at night. This behaviour makes it less likely that you will see them during the day.
- Skunks are known to get shelter under porches, decks, sheds, and other similar buildings by burrowing and sleeping. In these places, they often build dens to rest and raise their young.
- Trying to make coexistence peaceful
To live happily with skunks and other urban wildlife, you need to do a few things:
- Skunk-Proofing Your Property: If you’re worried about skunks making dens under your buildings, you might want to skunk-proof them. Look around your property for places where a den could be, like gaps under decks and sheds, and seal them off with hardware cloth or heavy-gauge wire mesh. Skunks won’t be able to build dens on your land if you do this.
- Taking care of your lawn: Skunks may dig in fields and lawns to find bugs, grubs, and other food. Take steps to get rid of pests to lower the number of grubs, and keep your yard in a way that keeps skunks from using it.
- Motion-activated lights: Put motion-activated lights in places where skunks are known to be busy. Skunks will be scared away by these lights, so they won’t come back to your property.
- Repellents: You can use skunk repellents that you can buy in stores on your land. Skunks don’t like the smells in these items, which can keep them from coming near.
- Animal-Proof Trash Cans: To keep skunks from digging through your trash, use animal-proof trash cans with lids that close tightly.
- Education: Make people in your neighbourhood more aware of the pros of living with skunks and other urban wildlife. Teaching people about the part these animals play in getting rid of pests can help them appreciate and understand them better.
- Professional Wildlife Removal: If you’re having a really tough time or a skunk problem that you can’t handle, you should talk to a professional wildlife removal service. They know how to look at your property and give you advice on how to remove it in a safe and gentle way.
How to Handle Skunk Encounters
Even if you try your best, you might sometimes run into skunks in your neighbourhood. It’s important to treat these animals with care and respect in these situations:
- Stay away from skunks. They’re not mean by nature, but they may spray if they feel threatened. Keep your distance and give them room to get away.
- Deodorization Methods: If a skunk sprays you, your pet, or your property, you can get rid of the smell in a number of ways at home, such as by mixing hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and liquid soap. There are also commercial skunk odour removers that you can buy.
- Professional Help: If you see a skunk that looks hurt or upset, you should call animal control or a wildlife rescue centre in your area for help. Do not try to get rid of the skunk by yourself.
To sum up, living peacefully with skunks and other urban wildlife means learning how they act, taking steps to avoid problems, and having an attitude of respect and love for them. With these tips, you can keep a good relationship with the different kinds of wildlife that live in and around cities.
At Skunk Control Barrie, guarantees complete skunk removal using industry-standard methods that have been time-tested on numerous cases before and are approved by the federal and provincial governments.