TulsaPets Magazine July 2021

8 TulsaPets • July/August 2021 By Kim Doner | Photos by Kathy Locker I began writing this article with a sincere wish to shift our community’s belief system about skunks. During my re- search, I discovered oh-so-much-more and have thoroughly entertained myself with the information. Stay with me here; I shall dispel myths, share wondrous facts and give you something to tell your co-workers when they ask what’s new. We’re going to learn about the Striped Skunk. These omnivores are great at controlling rodent and destructive insect populations. They’re crepuscular (isn’t that a wonderful word?), meaning they hang out at dawn and dusk when foraging. Their biggest enemy in the wild is the anosmia-suffering Great Horned Owl (another wonderful word, meaning “unable to smell”), but their deadliest threat is the automobile. More cars kill skunks annually than anything else, including rabies. Ah, rabies. Yes, skunks are definitely a rabies-vector species. At the risk of sounding politically incorrect, rabies in skunks manifests in one of two ways: “furious” (they are aggressive, charge easily, appear fear- less) and “dumb” (oddly tame, staggering, inattentive to stimuli). The only way a skunk can have rabies is to be bitten by another infected animal; they can harbor a latent form of the virus for up to 18 months although it’s seldom longer than six weeks. Rabies must grow in their system until it infects the salivary glands to transmit. Being bitten prior to that level means no rabies, but why risk it? If a skunk has moved in, and outside pets don’t hassle it, it will leave you alone. Should it be startled, the first response will be to Pepe Le Pews AKA the Striped Skunk Deal i ng Wi th A baby skunk being fed. Check out those claws, already developed at an early age!