Mother Skunk rushes across the lawn to find baby. Photo by Bruce M. Walker

Skunk Up the Drainpipe

Baby Skunk on the Lam

Today, my partner Bruce was out photographing our Iris, taking advantage of a lull between rainstorms. He was startled to see a Skunk rushing across the lawn. She was startled also and stopped and looked at us suspiciously. Then continued rushing across the lawn.

A very determined Mom skunk goes off to find missing babies. Photo by Bruce M. Walker

I followed at a safe distance and found her at the side of our house, sticking her nose up the downspout. Then she began nosing around the plant pots near the drainpipe; then it was back to stuffing her nose up the drainpipe. While I was watching, a baby popped out of the drainpipe!

This is the drainpipe the baby skunk emerged from. The blue pot in the foreground is the one I used to scoop up the other baby Photo by Louise Peacock

The mother grabbed it by the scruff and rushed back in the direction from which she had come. She was spotted entering the shrubbery beside the path, and in the next photos, you can just spot her disappearing into the shrubs.

Mom skunk dives in behind red pot. See closer crop below. Photo by Bruce M. Walker

You can just see the tail disappearing Photo by Bruce M. Walker

She emerged from the shrubs near the path, closely followed by a loudly squawking baby, and headed for the fence that separates our garden from our neighbours’ garden. We are pretty sure they are holed up either under his porch or under his garden shed.

Mom and baby beat a hasty retreat. Photo by Bruce M. Walker

I don’t know what made me head over to the drainpipe side again, but I did and heard loud squawking from the other side of the fence. I went over to the other side, and sure enough, there was another baby skunk, clearly very upset and looking for Mom!

It was getting very upset and disoriented. I went to the garage and got some garden gloves and a large plastic garden pot, and headed over to see if I could get the baby to crawl into the pot.

At first, it showed no signs of cooperating; in fact, it made a break for under the neighbours’ gate. They have a friendly but large dog, and I thought it would be best to remove it from their garden. Fortunately — the dog was not out, and I was able to scoop the baby into the pot. Not before it had managed to raise its little tail and spray in alarm.

Once it was in the pot, it settled down and seemed happy. I took it over to the other neighbours’ place and let it out of the pot near where I think they are holed up. Hopefully, the Mom skunk heard it yelling and came and got it.

I did have to remove all my outer clothing and put everything in the washing machine on hot to try to purge the Eau De Skunk!!