Village Considers New Policy After Skunk Complaints Double

It’s February, and the smell of love is in the air.

That smell, unfortunately, may be the odor of skunks, who are out and about much more often during the month, which is the peak of the animal’s mating season.

“February is typically the second highest month, behind September, when we get phone calls from residents,” assistant to the village manager Dan Kaup explained at a recent public works committee meeting. September is also a big month for skunk activity, because they’re feeding for the winter, he added.

With 250 callers—more than twice the usual number—contacting Northbrook Animal Control last fall to report that they had seen, or worse, smelled, a skunk nearby, the village decided to conduct a survey to see how other communities deal with the nuisance.

Released recently, the results show that most towns, like Northbrook, simply direct residents to call private wildlife companies who are licensed to deal with skunks, and the cost is borne by the resident. Of 13 communities surveyed in the area, only Skokie offered traps to residents, as well as a pickup and disposal service, while two communities rent traps.

Whose Responsibility Should Skunk Removal Be?

Dealing with skunks is tricky, since trapping and extermination alone doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be rid of them, Kaup said. Skunks burrow holes and live there—so even if you trap one skunk, another might move in.

“A skunk typically has a three- or four-block area,” Kaup said. “If you remove the skunk that’s living in that area, another one will come in and take its place.”

Composed of trustees A.C. Buehler III, Todd Heller and Michael Scolaro, Northbrook’s public works committee said that based on the results of the survey, they weren’t yet sure where to go with village skunk policy.

“There’s a yin and a yang between a village’s responsibility and the homeowner’s responsibility,” Scolaro said. “I don’t know that we have an answer here in terms of what we should be doing.”

But resident Peter Sternberg, who spoke at the meeting, had a suggestion.

“If the village would develop a contract with one or two wildlife companies, that would reduce the cost to whoever pays,” he said. Even a cost-sharing agreement between residents and the village would be better than the current policy, Sternberg thought.

The village board will consider whether or not to change its procedure for dealing with skunks at its next meeting.

What To Do If You Think You’ve Got A Skunk

In the meantime, Northbrook Animal Control Officer Gina Manski offers some tips for dealing with the nuisance.

First, you have to know where its den is, she said.

“The number one place that they live is going to be underneath a cement slab or a cement stoop,” she added. Because soil underneath a cement stoop naturally erodes, it’s easy for skunks to dig a hole there.

“It’s warm in the winter and it’s cool in the summer, it’s underneath the concrete and next to the house,” Manski said. “They could live there for years and people would never know it.”

Just because you smell a skunk doesn’t mean it’s sprayed in your yard, either. When a skunk sprays, the odor remains on their body for up to five days.

“Normally a skunk only sprays when they feel threatened. Believe it or not, they don’t even like the scent of their own spray,” Manski said.

That’s why it’s important to identify whether the den is actually on your property. You may trap a skunk, but in order to prevent another skunk from moving into the territory, you must also destroy the den.

To be sure that there is a den on your property, Manski recommends putting flour or cornstarch around any hole you think may be the entrance, then checking for footprints in the morning.

If you do confirm you’ve got a den, put flour down again and wait until nightfall. Once you see footprints in the area, you’ll know the animal is out (unless it’s spring, in which case there may be babies) and it’s safe to go to work closing up the hole with rocks or dirt.

Next, place several bowls filled with ammonia around the area, keeping them full for a week to ten days.

While this is a short-term solution to ridding your property of an animal den, Manski says the only long-term solution is to install a wire fence around your stoop or deck.

For more information, contact Northbrook Animal Control at 847-564-2060, ext. 2195, or take a look at the skunk removal information, provided by Manski, at right.