ottawa foodies

There are 4 baby skunks under my porch. I think the mom got scared off by our dog and they are abandoned. There were 5 last week, but we found one dead in the driveway (it probably starved) so now there are 4. They're very cute. My son put a piece of sweet potato out for them. And my neighbor from across the street picked one up (and even dropped it by accident), and it didn't spray. I'm rapidly abandoning my stereotypical ideas about skunks. They seem to like the sweet potato. Perhaps they are foodies . . .

Awww, they are so cute. Feed em some fruit? Maybe they'll like em? Or maybe their stink glands haven't developed fully yet.

You may be right about the stink glands. :-) They seem to raise their tails when nervous and drop them down again when they're not. When the neighbor was holding it, its tail was down. When they see my dog, their tails go up. :-)

Anyway, I'm not letting them in the house. But if they live in the woods nearby I would be ok with that. The neighbor said he would not mind either. The porch is a bit too near, in case they do get startled and spray.

There is a lobster shack in Connecticut that the skunks have been visiting for years. People feed them leftovers, and apparently they have never sprayed a customer. And the lobster is good too.
www.abbotts-lobster.com

I read somewhere that you can keep skunks as pets- you can bring them to the vet and have their function of spraying removed.

but you did say you did not want skunk pets in your house.

Yes, well our dog probably wouldn't get along with them, and my wife and younger daughter aren't too keen on them either (they pretty much destroyed her flower bed, and so got off to a bad start). My older daughter and son would probably want them as pets. Such is family life!

Apparently in the US you can get a vet to remove the scent glands and keep them as pets. I don't know if vets will do it in Canada. And you then have to keep it for the rest of its life, or have it put down, because it wouldn't survive very long in the wild without it's only defense.

Still it seems that they don't really spray unless frightened / threatened. And it seems they like people and like being handled.

That lobster shack looks like a good place to visit ! They should put pictures of the skunks on the site photos :-).

One of my co-workers told me he grew up poor in Nova Scotia and got lobster sandwiches for his lunch all the time. The well to do kids got peanut butter sandwiches in their lunch boxes.

skunks can get very tame and they don't just spray for no reason. there is a mini golf course in ottawa that is over run with skunks at dusk. you have to wait at the holes as the skunks wander past, it adds an extra element of risk to the game ;-)

www.ottawahumane.ca

Juvenile or Baby Skunks
If you see a baby skunk running around a yard or neighborhood all alone, there's a chance he is orphaned. You may even see a line of baby skunks, nose to tail, running around by themselves — its likely they’re become separated from their mother. Skunks have poor eyesight, so if something scares a mother skunk and she runs off, her babies can quickly lose sight of her. In these circumstances, we recommend monitoring the situation for an hour or two to see if the mother appears. You can also put on gloves and slowly place a plastic laundry basket upside down over the skunks to keep them in one spot and make it easier for the mother to find them. Be aware that skunks spray to protect themselves from quickly moving threats such as dogs — if you move slowly and speak softly, it's unlikely that you will be sprayed. If alarmed, skunks give a warning by stamping their front feet. So, if a skunk doesn’t stamp, she's probably not concerned, and you may proceed.

Francis, Abbott's is a must visit, and not just for the skunks. Abott's does lobster and other seafoods steamed, and the sister restaurant down the street Costello's does everything fried. Both are good. No skunks at Costello's though.

Thanks for the info hipfunkyfun.

Our dog was barking at something and we did smell skunk a couple of weeks ago, so that's when the mom ran off I think. In the meantime they probably haven't gotten much to eat. They ate some flowers and dug up the tulip bulbs. And one died.

Well I'm not going to let them starve. I'll get them to come out with food. The neighbor said he wouldn't mind them living in the woods near his house. We could build a crate for them with some 2 x 4 and hopefully get them settled there.

Hopefully we can catch all 4 today or tomorrow.

If they are truly orphaned then I would recommend:

www.aspenvalleywildlifesanctuary.co

They should be in the hands of people who understand how to properly asses them and hopefully they'll be able to be raised and released back into the wild. Feeding them table scraps and whatnot will prevent them from learning how to forage for themselves and thus won't be able to survive alone as adults.

The above site has a contact # and they should be able to help you find a place where they can be dropped off, or maybe even help you trap them so they can pick them up.

This is NOT meant at all as negative or judgement, I think you've done am amazing job showing compassion for these animals and that deserves tones of respect :)

Too cute that they like sweet potatoes, good taste! whats next on the menu for the little ones? just another fyi, they can't handle lactose....so leave home made mac n' cheese off the menu for now. :P

I'm wondering if skunks fed on sweet potato have a better flavor and how best to prepare them? :)

lol @ blubarry

agreed em, the best course of action is to keep wildlife wild, otherwise we put it in danger. if you follow the humane society link i posted it has information for what to do if you find orphaned animals including email addresses and phone numbers to call.

meaning well is great, but a better use of good intentions is by giving donations to the organizations that help these animals at risk. donations can be money or time or goods. most places have long wish lists of useful supplies.

Thanks em, that's helpful info . . . especially about the lactose intolerance. The first day, after the sweet potato, my son put out some milk and cat food. They drank some of the milk (they drink like cats with their tongues - again very cute), but then our dog went out . . . the skunks ran back under the porch and our dog ate all the cat food and drank the milk.

It seems skunk mothers abandon their babies quite easily . . . zero sign of the mother . . . I've only seen first the 5, then 4, babies alone for over a week.

Skunks can be cute - also smelly. Our rural yard currently has a good dose of skinniness that is slowly fading. (neighbors dog perhaps?) However be careful handling any skunks - they are a major carrier of rabies. (same goes for most of the wild critters in the ottawa region)

you can only be affected by rabies if bitten by an affected animal. just because an animal is a carrier, doesn't mean they will be affected with the rabies virus. still, once again, best to let wild animals stay wild.

btw, there is a human vaccine for rabies. my husband works with domestic and wild animals and has to have it.
www.ottawa.ca

Yup, they don't seem to have any strange behavior though.

I'll probably work form home tomorrow (the traffic will be crazy in Ottawa I predict) and have a chance to catch them.

My office overlooks the ByWard Market and I already see a lot more people than usual moving about, and some look like they are going to camp out.

Apparently 100,000 people showed up for the Queen, and they are predicting at least 3x that for William and Kate. William is going to lay a wreath at the war memorial tomorrow. I expect there will be large crowds, and police and security, both tomorrow and July 1.

A while back my wife said something at dinner about Kate Middleton, and I said "who's Kate Middleton?" Both my wife and daughter were shocked and said I was "the only person on earth who did not know who Kate Middleton was". That, as it turned out, was actually factually incorrect, because I then asked my son, and he said she was a singer or rock star.

Just a little note about lactose intolerance. I'm fairly certain that milk is ok if they are still babies. Even if adults of many species are lactose intolerant, mammalian babies are very unlikely to be lactose intolerant, for obvious reasons.

I know that skunks also tend to like dry cat food (not very foodie like, but probably healthier than a lot of human food). My father fed some feral cats when he lived out of town, and sometimes skunks would join the cats. Everyone got along nicely...

Blubarry, hilarious!

Caught five in fact . . . they find Alaskan King Crab irresistible!

So cute !

My son . . . the skunk father !

Skunk looks like he's waving . . . (Happy Canada Day !)

When we caught the first one yesterday, my son got sprayed a bit when he was moving the cage. The little fella's legs kept falling through the mesh and he was really scared.

However, my son took a bath and it washed off immediately. I think the scent may have evolved to attach itself to fur (like a dog's fur). It doesn't linger on skin at all.

They haven't sprayed at all since. We've given them water, apple, potato and Alaskan King crab. They ate a bit of potato. The rest of the stuff they woofed down. None of them have scratched or bitten either. Initially my son was wearing gardening gloves, but they are pretty gentle so he took them off.

I must say skunks are pretty civilized creatures. Hungry cats will hiss and scratch and fight over food. These skunks didn't do any of that; they shared it in a very civilized manner. They are also very sociable and like to cuddle one another. We've handled all five now, and they like being petted too.

The skunk foodies are now in their new home.

The neighbor has a retaining wall facing away from his house.

A while back I tried to make a workbench top out of 2 x 4 laminated together, but it wasn't clamped properly and warped. We laid that against the bottom of the wall and secured it with paving stones, with additional paving stones at both ends that would only admit the skunks.

We put some crab meat under there, and one by one put the skunks at the entrance of their new home.