Skunk

The state of Georgia (USA) has two species of skunks - the striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis) and the Eastern spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius).

There are more different types of skunks than I realized - different colors, too.  In the wild the normal black can be replaced by brown or red.  The color patterns are variable - ranging from completely dark to completely white.  Color variations in domestic skunks include: chocolate chip, milk chocolate and white, white on white, pure albino, cinnamon swirl, confetti, apricot, lavender, and gun-metal gray.

Pictures:

• http://www.dragoo.org/NMSkunks.html
• http://www.humboldt.edu/~wfw2/skunkpictures.html
• http://www.dragoo.org/Spot.html
• http://www.protectrwildlife.org/skunk-w-brown.jpeg

http://www.dragoo.org/Intro.html#Dist

Today, skunks can be found from Canada to South America and with the recent inclusion of stink badgers in the family they also can be found on Palawan and Calamian islands as well as Java, Borneo, Sumatra and neighboring islands.

• Striped skunks are found from the southwestern Northwest Territories to Hudson Bay and southern Quebec (Canada), south to Florida (USA), northern Tamaulipas, Durango, and northern Baja California (Mexico).
• Hooded skunks occur from southern Arizona, New Mexico, and southwestern Texas (USA), through Mexico to Costa Rica.
• Spotted skunks are found from southwestern Canada east to Minnesota and south central Pennsylvania (USA), south to Costa Rica.
• The pygmy spotted skunk only occur form Sinaloa to Oaxaca (Mexico).
• The striped hog-nosed skunks are found throughout South America from the Straits of Magellan all the way north to Veracruz, Tabasco, and Yucatan (Mexico).
• The white-backed hog-nosed skunks occur from Arizona to the Gulf Coast of Texas (USA) south to Veracruz and southwest to Nicaragua.

One of my brothers once found a tiny, cold, wet, little baby skunk (about 3oz) inside of a swimming pool filter.  Momma was gone, so he took the baby home and fed it cat chow while he located a rehabilitator.

My home state of Texas has more types of skunks than any other U.S. state - striped skunks, hooded skunks, hog nosed skunks, Western spotted skunks, and Eastern spotted skunks.

I was once driving home and saw a large cat limping across the street toward my house.  I pulled into my driveway and looked down the side of my house to discover that the "limping cat" was really a "loping skunk".  He pawed the ground and glared at me, but, after deciding that I was not a threat, he went under the gate into my backyard without "being a stinker".

My dog did not go in the backyard that night.    She would have tried to play with the skunk. 

That's interesting, Janet. I've never seen one, here, and I've never run across a dog that's been sprayed, locally. Maybe they're not common, in this part of Georgia?

And... flavored skunks might be a bit much, LOL 

jennie_c_d

Maybe they're not common, in this part of Georgia?

No idea, but the site below will give you distribution maps for both species:

http://narsal.ecology.uga.edu/gap/vertebrate_distribution/mammals.html

Unfortunately, my poor old computer can't display those maps.

The site below lists both skunk species as being "common".  The Eastern Spotted Skunk is not on the E. coastal plain; otherwise, both species are statewide in Georgia.

http://www.mammalsociety.org/statelists/gamammals.html

  I live almost on the beach!  I actually take the brats to the beach, at least once a week.

My computer yelled ITS A PDF PDF PDF NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! So I dunno, either. I've just never encountered a skunk or skunked dog, and it surprises me a little.  We're in the woods, all the time. We see lots of wildlife.

jennie_c_d

My computer yelled ITS A PDF PDF PDF NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

PDF is "Portable Document Format".    The Adobe Acrobat Reader (now Adobe Reader) program will display a PDF file if your computer's operating system (OS) is new enough to support the right version of the Reader.  You should install the newest version that runs on your OS.

You can download (free) the Reader here:  http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2_allversions.html

System requirements:  http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/systemreqs/ 

Versions for older operating systems:  http://www.brothersoft.com/adobe-reader-59854.html

jennie_c_d

I've just never encountered a skunk or skunked dog, and it surprises me a little.  We're in the woods, all the time. We see lots of wildlife.

Skunks are nocturnal.  Do you walk at night?  at dawn?  at dusk?

Do you want to encounter a skunk? 

I can answer this!!!! NOOOOOO you do not want to meet a skunk...LOL

 My computer is old as the hills, and it hates me. It won't load Adobe, or read a PDF. It shuts down, if I click on one

And, yes... I would like to meet a skunk. I'm that kind of weirdo, LOL. I walk at all hours of the day and night, and have seen deer, bobcats, rabbits, all sorts of birds, etc etc. I enjoy them, very much. And I'm also a dog groomer. I'd think that if there were many skunks around here, I'd have encountered a skunked dog in the years I've been grooming.

I took the dogs with me to San Diego in the RV. BOTH still smelling mildly like skunk.. maven was bleached out some from the peroxide. And She did get it square between the eyes and I was not going close to her eyes with much...

So we swam in the ocean, hosed or bathed in fresh water daily... still skunky.

I was there for 3 weeks before being injured (I was there for work) and came home. One fine day I was about to let the dogs in and Maven comes running to the door with something in her mouth. Drops it and rolls over it with glee! Sigh... skunk smell is back.. so in my drug enduced haze I head to the side of the house where there is a crawl space. That I "thought" was deeper than it actually is.. and the screen is pushed back. Just big enough for a skunk and now Maven to go exploring under the house.. which explains why periodicly this winter the house would smell like skunk but the outside air was fresh... GRRRRR. I hate them! I had to baracade the crawl space and put up an extra gate. Which was not fun in my condition.

Sorry for your skunk encounter. I too have had luck with "Skunk Off". However for a while after if the dogs got wet you could still smell it. More than one bath is probably in store in any case.

One of the first things I experienced in Canada was THE SMELL!!! We were riding from the airport on my DH boss car and somewhere in the road we felt "something different in the air". She told us that was Skunk... I remembered this thread and now I hope so badly, Thor will never find one, please!!