Author: jccadle

Let’s stay safe this holiday season! Here are some tips and reminders for keeping our homes and vehicles safe from the Travis County Sheriff’s office.

https://www.tcsheriff.org/images/community/docs/Safe_Neighborhoods.pdf

Do you smell that?

Scofield has skunks!  Many neighbors and their four-legged family members have unfortunately had a run in (or two!) with skunks over the past few years.  While skunks are beneficial to our environment (they eat grubs and poisonous snakes), they can also hold us hostage in our own homes.  How can we deter these stinkers?  To prevent them from digging into your back yard, you may consider closing the gap between your perimeter fence and the ground with rocks, chicken wire, or a commercial “no dig” product.  Below are additional methods we can all use to send our smelly friends on their way.    https://getridofpest.org/remove-skunks/

But I have to go outside at night…

Sometimes we just have to be outside at dusk or during the night – when skunks are most active, as they are nocturnal animals.  It can be risky business walking to your car, especially when the night air is filled with skunk odor.  These are some avoidance tactics:

• Turn on your exterior lights before you exit your home.
• Make a little noise to send them on their way, but not so much as to startle them if right in front of your doorway.
• If you see a skunk, move slowly and calmly back away – despite your instinct to get the heck out of there as fast as possible!
• This is simple, but avoid walking your dog at night.

We’ve been hit! 

Has your dog (or you!) been sprayed?  Skip the tomato juice and try this mixture instead.  (If you are the victim of the skunk’s spray, you may also consider working from home the next day!)

Skunk Facts:

And just for fun, here are some interesting details about Pepe LePew and his cousins:

• A skunk’s sulfuric spray has a range of up to 10 feet, and its odor can be detected up to 1.5 miles.
• Skunks eat wasps and honeybees, and will often attack beehives.
• Immune to snake venom, skunks are known to eat poisonous snakes like rattlesnakes.
• Although skunks have very poor eyesight, they have excellent senses of smell and hearing – so keep your garbage covered!
• A group of skunks is called a surfeit.
• Skunks generally breed in late winter or early spring, with the litter arriving 60-75 days later, usually in May or June.
• Litters range from three to ten youngsters.
• Skunks have easy-going temperaments and try to avoid trouble at all costs.

http://www.havahart.com/skunk-facts
http://www.roundupweb.com/story/2012/02/29/ag-roundup/skunks-friends-or-foes/022820121333773908674.html

In closing, did you hear the joke about the skunk?  You don’t want to – it really stinks!   Good luck, neighbors!