Mephitidae

They dig up the yard looking for grubs. I can live with that.

They apparently live in the bushes in back of our neighbor’s yard, although we see them now and then. Not a huge problem in and of itself.

Carnivora Caniformia. It’s all Greek to me. (Well, okay, Latin…)

In colder climes they get dormant in the winter. Here they don’t recognize our January weather as actually fitting the standard definition of “winter”, so they stay active year ’round.

Sometimes they’ll get into someone’s trash. We keep our trash can lids closed tight.

You can call the city or county until the cows come home, they won’t or can’t do anything about them. Some exterminators will trap them if they’re living under your house, but they’re required by law to let them go within a short distance of where they were trapped.

Some folks domesticate them. Some folks need to have their freakin’ heads examined.

The dog is completely freaked by them, and vice versa. We share in paying the price for that.

Their odor can be detected by humans well over a mile away. I don’t know how many there are living within a mile of here, but I think it’s a sucker bet that you can’t count them on one hand, and you might need your toes.

They’re a little bit blind so they get run over and everything stinks for a week. We hate it when that happens. (Sing along with me!)

Now, someone or someone’s dog (not ours, this time) has spooked one of them three times in the past five nights. It’s to to be happening someplace close because the odor’s so strong it’s eye-watering.

We would like to adopt a “live and let live” attitude, but living with skunks in the neighborhood is a pain!