A Safe Skunk Trap

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Skunks are really pretty amiable, good little beings most of the time, and they're certainly ecologically important critters too. After all, polecats consume—among other things—rats, mice, insects, and reptiles (thus providing a portion of nature's own biological population control among those animals). The beasts clean up roadside carrion as well ... often getting run over while performing this nocturnal service, as motorists learn—by nose—when approaching the site of the accident.

The creature's obnoxious spray-which is the skunk's only defense against enemies—is stored in two nutlike glands encased in muscles on either side of its rectum. When quickly compressed by a flip of the tail-an almost automatic action on the frightened skunk's part—these organs eject an odoriferous liquid over a range of 10 to 15 feet and within an arc of 180 degrees. (Many authorities believe the animals can also expel the acrid liquid voluntarily . . . when their glands become uncomfortably full.) The spray is more than just unsocial, too. In fact, the secretion is so potent that it can cause blindness if it enters a pet's or human's eyes!

A PESKY PROBLEM

Skunks, being scavengers, are particularly attracted to garbage. Therefore, my open compost box proved to be a handy restaurant for a polecat that took up residence in our subdivision. The critter sprayed my nosy dog twice, rendering her unfit for human companionship ... and—equally disturbing—the skunk took nightly strolls through the thick bushes below our bedroom window, relieving its bulging scent glands and awakening us—noses shriveled and eyes watering—at 2:00 or 3: 00 a.m.

As winter came on, there was some relief for polecats "den up" on especially cold days (rather than actually hibernate). However, the first hint of sunshine tempts the critters out again, so—during a warm spell last December—when the odorous beast scattered composting eggshells over half our property, we determined to evict the skunk from our premises.

Using instructions supplied by a local Wildlife Regional Commission technician, my husband built a skunk trap from a 15-gallon grease can. On the container's open end, he attached a rectangular wooden frame which enclosed a sliding door. This portal was held above the opening by a wooden peg inserted in a small hole bored near the door's base. A nylon wire—attached to the peg-ran back over the can . . . slid through an eye ring fastened to the ''top'' of the container (as the drum lay on its side) ... descended into the can by way of a small opening cut behind the ring . . . I threaded through a second eyebolt set in the trap's "floor" . . . and was tied to a chunk of bait.