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Subscribe to RSSA North Dakota golf course is being damaged by a group of skunks that normally wouldn't be around under normal weather conditions. KVLY's Jennifer Titus reports.
From the Dakotas to Oklahoma, city folks are more often seeing, and sometimes smelling, a varmint not much welcome in their parts. Skunks, it turns out, are showing up in more places these days, thanks to the drought covering most of the U.S.
In South Dakota, the city of Aberdeen has set all its skunk traps and could use more -- if it had them.
"It's been my life here for the last month or so," animal control officer John Weaver told AberdeenNews.com. Weaver normally catches two skunks a month, but over the last three weeks, he has already netted 13.
"From everything people are telling me, and what I've discussed with other folks who are in the animal control business, it has to do with the drought," Weaver added. "Farmers are cutting things down, so the skunks are looking for food and water and are coming to town for that."
A veterinarian urged residents to make sure pets are vaccinated, because skunks can carry rabies.
"There isn't a monster invasion of rabid skunks or anything like that," said Tim Sahli. "It's just a concern, and if we stay on top of it, it won't be a problem."
In North Dakota, a golf course that has seen greens damaged by skunks trapped 13 skunks in just one month -- using marshmallows as bait.
"We thought we'd catch one or two and that would be about it," Hillcrest Municipal Golf Course Superintendent Marlyn Bertsch told ValleyNewsLive.com.
"In the past we never really noticed any out here," he said of the course in Jamestown. "You could smell 'em every once in a while, but never had any damage."
In Oklahoma, a self-styled "Skunk Whisperer" has been busy trying to rid backyards of skunks.
Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images
Striped skunks like this one are native to much of the Midwest, where drought has made them much more visible.
"They have three things that they want: food, water, shelter," Ned Breuha told NewsOn6.com. "And when they can't get one of those things, they go to greener pastures," like the backyards.
"This is a green, green pasture," he said of the yard he was working in when interviewed.
Breuha said some property owners try to trap the skunks themselves, then release them in other areas. One of those has been at Oklahoma City's Lake Hefner, where residents are complaining of a skunk spike.
"I saw a skunk twice, two days apart ... leaving from my rose garden," said Arthur Bay, who has lived at the lake for 43 years and never before seen a skunk. "He's not welcome."
Related: 2012 likely to be warmest year on record in US
Related: Drought worsens in some key farming states
Lake Hefner Golf Club was seeing about a dozen skunks every morning until it hired a trapper.
"He trapped 60 skunks" over three weeks, said club employee Daniel Mills, "and we still have skunks."
The Midwest was hit hard by the lack of rain this year, likely triggering an increase in food prices. WOWT's John Chapman reports.
Anyone coming across an aggressive skunk should shoot it in the body so the head can be tested for rabies, South Dakota's state epidemiologist Lon Kightlinger told SiouxCityJournal.com.
"We don’t want hunters just going out and blasting skunks, and we don’t want road kill," Kightlinger said.
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I thought that skunky smell was from my neighbors crop. Dammit.
the drought killed the crop.
Had 2 skunks in my garage. A farmer told me if you shoot them in the head they can't spray. What he failed to tell me was I needed a certain caliber of gun for this to be successful. My garage stunk for a month :)
so what caliber do you use ? 22 isn't good enough ?
God's creation.
So is Custom's neighbor's crop.
In thirty years or so of living in this area, it wasn't until this past year that I started seeing dead skunks on the road. We've also had the unfortunate experience of one spraying nearby and the smell being pulled into the house via central airconditioning on multiple occassions this year. Believe me, it can actually be bad enough to wake you up in the middle of the night.
Wildlife species populations fluctuate with environment (food, climate, da da da). Your State Wildlife Management has a site that you can track these...if you are bored. ha ha
Sure they can stink, but honestly, I'm not sure why the folks in Oklahoma and the Dakotas are getting all worked up by these little guys. They're beneficial creatures that like to eat grubs and mice. We've always had skunks roaming around the neighborhood here in CT. One took up residence under my neighbor's barn until the woodchuck ran him out.
My brother once hit one with his truck late at night. Best car-theft deterrent EVER.
skunks destroy sod lawns digging for grubs, etc. That makes them a pest who can destroy thousands of dollars of sod in a neighbothood.
Wild hogs do far more damage
Set the traps in DC and you can catch over 500 in just a couple of buildings.
I live in a small town in the middle of Northern Illinois. The skunk population here and in surrounding areas has been crazy. We see them at night just walking around the town. It's a huge problem when our local animal services are so busy they have no traps left to use.
They are a problem here in Wyoming too. We live in a very small town, and no animal control officers. I trapped 6 in our yard in 8 days. They carry several other diseases besides rabies as well.
Your homepage line reads: Skunks, a dought sight.
Seriously MSN, you are such a "journalist joke". A fifth grader could write for this website with better accuracy.
I really hate to hear this about the skunks. They are pretty misunderstood creatures but with the gland removed are very loveable. I had a pet skunk that was born in a pet store in Panama City, FL. I had her for 7 years before she died. I would have never gone looking for one but she just landed in my lap when her owner had to move out of the country. They make wonderful pets.
Thanks for your insight, I too have raised orphan skunks from bottle feeding to adulthood and have learned to enjoy them in the wild, have actually petted them when they come in the yard they are truely misunderstood and harmless unless threatened. rabies is scare tactics unless they are out in daylight andacting agressively,then stay awayfrom them. Being nocturnal and docile makes them a creature of the night and makes people truely ignorant of their lives and habits hence feared!
My dogs have gotten skunked several times in the past 6 months and as recent as two nights ago they were skunked in my back yard. I live in a suburb of Chicago. I've never seen this many skunks. Nothing worse than a skunked dog or two....
Any Dog that gets sprayed more than once has a learning disability!
LOL... dogs are so goofy
Dogs aren't goofy their just courious or protective. or both.
N. E. Georgia here. The last 3 years we've had more skunks, raccoons & possums than in the 19 years we've owned this farm. The pond went completely dry 2 1/2 years ago. Now, at night, I have to bring in my cat feeders or the S, R, & P's will eat every last bite. Woke up during the night this past spring and at the cat feed dispenser a possum was eating from the left side, and a skunk was eating from the right - however the skunk had his tail lifted and pointed his derriere towards the left just in case the possum tried something. Never in my life have I seen anything like that!
I smell a skunk in the White House..It was black with a white stripe up his back...Sucking the tax payer money and leaving a Major Money drought through out the USA..
Leave the skunks alone. And paragus, you are a racist. You can't count either. If you take the cost of the temporary Bush tax cuts that Republiucans held our nation hostage with, just like they will again on January first, then you would understand that the deficit continues to be funded by Republican shenanigans and you should place the blame there, where it belongs! The cost for the first year of Obama's Presidency was legislated before he even took office! The costs attributable to Obama are less than Bush's tomfoolery and you know it, you troll!
Yep i am racist I think everyone should own a color TV...:P
For those of you that have trapped or killed a skunk/skunks you have saved the lives of countless Vermin and cutworms, skunks are primarily insectivours,their diet is highly beneficial to man and they have never been VERMIN . Next The Smell: Have you experienced a crowd of humans lately, with the scent all mixed up, Now spend a moment thinking what that would be like without those coverup odors and I will have made my point. Live next to a stockyard or a hog confinement? well you think skunks natural defense smell is bad! Drought has forced many animals to adapt, we may be next, get bigger traps and larger caliber weapons the real Vermin may be in your backyards soon!
Driving at night one time, had the widows down..the car infront of me hit the skunk and it came spinning BACK UNDER HIS CAR spraying..UP AHEAD OF ME. As i drove into the mist had to use the winshield wipers to see where i was going.But 2weeks to get the smell out of the car..
Lakewood Colorado, look it up. Its a SUBURB just west of Denver.
We have skunks here ALL the time. You smell them, see them, they get in your garage, etc.
After awhile you get used to the smell....did I just say that??
why can't the local governments put out rabies vaccines in a food source which has been done here on long island ny and then leave the wild life to live!! we have to STOP killing everything!!!
.... skunks are great little animals , harmless for the most part .... and won't spray unless its messed with ...... and a skunk does not have the skunk smell , in fact they smell nice and have a beautiful fur.... I took in an orphaned skunk , named her Petunia , her favorite food was crickets, she was never descented and lived in my house for 6 months.... i then let her go ... i miss that little skunk , she was the sweetest pet.
we have skunks in minnesota too. would love to send them to N D. they deserve them.
One night I had a hav-a-Hart trap out to catch feral cats who were digging up my wifes garden.
Well, I caught a skunk instead. I threw an old sheet over the cage so he couldn't see what I was doing. Fortunately he couldn't extend his tail while in the cage. with a stick I propped the trap door open & RAN into the house. He came out of the cage looking mean as hell. His hair stood up like an Afro , including his tail. He took and looked at the house door I entered as though. He wanted to have me BAD, then he left. That was the last time I tried to catch cats.