The "Skunks: The lePew Family: Story

It was an ordinary day. Just finished talking to Jack Hubley, WGAL-TV naturalist and producer and host of "Wild Moment." I gave Jack a call a few days ago about a problem we are having with skunks. Kind of a smelly problem! So here's how the story goes ....... evidently we have a few skunks that have decided to move in with Carol and me on Harrington Drive. They dug an entrance way at the side of our rear deck and have called it "home." Now, Carol and I love animals, but ..... If they only would be good tenants, we wouldn't mind, but sometimes they discourage others who roam with them at night in the neighborhood from visiting with them under our deck by spraying them. And, they must do this deed while under or close-by the entrance way of their home. One half of our house has a basement while the other half has crawl space. The part with the crawl space has openings covered with wire for ventilation that open under out deck. It keeps the crawl space well ventilated, but also allows the odor from the skunks to enter under our family room and kitchen. And, that area is near our return vents into our heating and cooling system. So, when the skunks decide they don't want a certain visitor in their "home" under our deck, they spray and that smell travels towards the return vents and into our heating/cooling system, and naturally all through out house. A few weeks ago, after unwanted visitors arrived at the lePews "home", I awoke at 5:27 AM. Could hardly breathe. Shook my wife and said, "Do you smell that?" By now my eyes were watering and I sat up in bed and looked around the room. I swore there'd be skunks at the bottom of the bed. Everything smelled; our clothes that we wore to work that day, the inside of the cars, the lunch bags. And when we came home from work that day and opened the door from the garage into the house ......... holy cow!! I had our heavy duty air purifier going at top speed and about a dozen different deodorizers sitting around the kitchen, but they did little. It was too cold to leave the doors open, so we just suffered. Was almost afraid to turn on our gas fireplace in the family room for fear of an explosion. In a day or two the smell eventually went away. Then ...... more unwanted visitors. After a few more times I told Carol I had enough and was going to trap them. But what would I do when I got one in the trap. Put it in my car and drop it somewhere? I don't think so. What if it sprayed the trunk of my car. So I called an animal control company who told me he would pick up the skunk if I trapped it. Cost: $129.95. What else could we do? So, I set the trap on the back deck after sunset. Covered it with a blanket so if we caught something it wouldn't freak out and spray us. A few hours later, while watching TV, we heard this noise outside the rear door. Carol and I looked at each other and realized what had happened. We caught something! Up, out of my chair and to the door. I flicked on the light at the rear of the house and stepped quietly out the door to the trap. I certainly didn't want to scare what was in the trap and face a bath in tomato juice tonight. Carefully I lifted the blanket at one end; nothing at that end. Then lifted the other end; same result! There was nothing in the trap!! How can that be. They tricked us! Too much excitement for one night for me, so I headed to bed. Shortly, Carol came to bed and after turning off the lights and heading to the window, told me to look out back. When I did we could see both skunks under the birdfeeder, eating the seeds that had been knocked to the ground by the birds. Ah, Ha! I can close off the entrance to their "home" while they eat. I quick put on a dark pair of sweatpants, a dark hooded sweatshirt and headed back downstairs. Quietly went to the garage, grabbed my heavy metal tool box, turned off the alarm, snuck out the front door and worked my way around to the back. Just as I put the box in front of their hole they had dug, they saw me and scurried under some pine trees. I ran back in the house, reset the alarm and headed back to bed. Told my wife, "I hope that no one saw me sneaking around the house with a hood over my head carrying a tool box at 11:30 at night when all the lights are off in the house. The next day, after checking to see if there was another hole leading under the deck, and finding one at the other end, knew I was in over my head. We finally decided it was time for big-time help, so I placed a call to Jack Hubley at Channel 8 Studios in Lancaster. He called me today and started with, "Is this the guy that has a couple of skunks for sale?" I replied, "Hi, Jack. I really think you would love this one that is almost entirely white with a black strip down his head and back." OK, the formalities of greeting each other are over and I start to ask him how I can get rid of the house guests. I told him about the empty trap and he said that they are pretty sharp animals and may have reached in from the side of the trap to get the food I had on the trigger plate instead of entering the trap. It may have pushed too hard on the plate and set off the trap. He told me that if I hire someone to remove them, they will destroy the animal since they are licenced and MUST destroy any rabid-vector species animal. These include skunks, foxes, bats, raccoons and groundhogs. For some reason the possum is not in that category. So, if I don't want the skunks killed, I have to trap and release it myself. I may legally take them to any State Gameland and drop them off. He told me that he has done that in the past without any problems. "But, what do I do if it sprays the inside of my trunk?" I asked. "Tell you what, if that happens you call me and I'll do a story for TV about that!" So, that's where it stands right now. I now have to build up enough courage to re-set the trap and chance catching the critter, loading it in the trunk of my car and driving 30 minutes to find a place to release it, then do it all over a second time; or we can buy a couple of gas masks to wear to bed. I'll let you know how it works out. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - photos from the top: Jack Hubley talking with an owl, the culprit, trap set with blanket over it, toolbox blocking the skunk's entrance, and second hole I discovered the next day.