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Swim
Club
Mephitis mephitis
The Striped Skunk
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Odor
with feet
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If you’ve been at Beachcomber at night, chances are you’ve seen them come out of the woods, prowling around the Lower Grove. The striped skunk (or polecat) is found in most regions of North America. Head and body length ranges from 31 to 46 cm, and tail length from 18 to 40 cm; weight is usually between 1 and 6 kg. The color pattern is variable, but striped skunks are most frequently black with a narrow white forehead stripe and a white head patch extending onto the back, or even onto the tail, as a single band or as two stripes.
They’re nocturnal (i.e., they’re active at night) and feed primarily on rodents, insects, eggs, birds, and plants. Of course, they could find all of these things in the woods where they live, so why do they bother to visit Beachcomber?
Two words — Fast Food.
Do you remember that hot dog that fell off the grill, and nobody threw it away? Or those potato chips that blew off your plate and landed who-knows-where? The skunks know where, and they visit the Lower Grove looking for anything edible that didn’t find its way into a trashcan.
It’s for this reason we ask you to eat only easily-contained snacks by the pools. We don’t want the skunks to come prowling around the Upper Grove at night, while your children are having their sleepover. The picture above shows the view of a skunk you don’t want your children to see — the back end with the tail raised.
Before they spray, most species exhibit characteristic warning behavior, such as foot stamping on the front feet. If the threat continues, the animal turns its hindquarters toward the target and ejects a fine spray of yellow, odoriferous liquid as far as 12 feet.
So, you know enough to stay away from a skunk, but what do
you do if Fido is on the receiving end of a skunk attack? "Bathe
him in tomato juice," I hear you say. Sorry, but there are three reasons why you don't want to do that.
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It's expensive:
Tomato juice costs about a dollar a quart. Your average bathtub holds 36 gallons. You do the math. Use the space provided. Be sure to show all work.
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It doesn't work.
Bathing an animal in tomato juice seems to work because after lengthy exposure to strong odors, the human nose quits smelling the odor (olfactory fatigue). A person suffering olfactory fatigue to skunk spray will swear that the skunk odor is gone and was neutralized by the tomato juice, but another person arriving at this point will quickly tell you that the skunk smell is still present. - It's notorious for coloring dogs pink.
Here are a few ways to stop the stench:
There are several commercial products that break down the oil in the skunk scent. These include Skunk Kleen®, Skunk-Off®, Nil-Odor®, Odor-Away®, and Rexall C-D Deodorant®.
Here's a homemade remedy:
Bathe pets that have been sprayed in a mixture of
1 quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide (from drug store),
1/4 cup of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
and a teaspoon of liquid detergent.
This recipe will wash a small dog the size of a Jack Russell terrier. Make multiple batches for bigger pets. Make sure the solution soaks through the hair onto the skin. Rinse the animal thoroughly with water after 5 minutes of scrubbing. Repeat if necessary. This mixture may bleach the pet's hair. Discard unused solution.
From Chemical & Engineering News, October 18, 1993, p. 90.One remedy I found on the net called for Powdered Massingil Douche:
For soaking the affected clothing use 1/4 bottle in a gallon of barely lukewarm water. Same for a dog who gets sprayed. [Don't use very warm or hot water as oil will be released in the steam and odor will come up out of tub.]