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Now’s the time to relocate skunks and raccoons in your yard

Mar 19, 2018 | 12:58 PM

LETHBRIDGE – Almost nothing smells worse than the spray from a skunk. And while having a family of raccoons in your yard may seem cute at first, the mess they can make out of your garbage or compost piles, not to mention the danger to small children and pets, might make you think twice about letting them camp out on your property.

If you think you’ve got skunks or raccoons in your yard, underneath a shed or in a crawlspace and you want them gone, now is the time to get rid of them.

Ecological Consultant Ryan Heavy Head relocates raccoons and skunks as well as rattlesnakes in the summertime. He says mating season is nearly over for the mammals, and in the next few weeks, they’ll be having babies. Lots of babies.

 

 

“For those people that know they have a skunk or a racoon living on their property, or they’ve gone out and smelled the skunk and they’ve told themselves ‘I’ve gotta do something about I’d rather give them a heads up to do it right away before we get to that point where they decided to do it, but now they’re removing mothers from their babies and that kind of thing.”

Babies are generally born from mid-to late April until early June. Heavy Head says multiple animals can den together for the winter, then the mothers will go looking for another den where they can have their babies alone.

So, for people who don’t have them on their properties now, he advises they don’t leave any food or water sources out that may attract them.

“The biggest thing is the den sites. So, you want to look for areas where gravel has sunken below concrete, where maybe they can climb under a shed or a deck or something like that and sealing those opportunities off is just good preventative medicine.”

Compost piles are also big attractants – especially for skunks.

“Certainly, you can do something to seal up your compost bin so that they can’t get in,” he explains. “Even the regular black plastic bins, it’s the matter of how you fix them to the earth. If you’ve got the doors closed properly, it should be able to pry its way in. Where it sits on the ground, is where you need to shoulder up…you could bring in heavy rocks, like bowling ball sized rocks and put them around the base. That way they’re not going to dig underneath.”

And if you do already have either skunks or raccoons on your property, there are several options. Traps are available at some hardware stores. The Lethbridge Animal Shelter has them available to borrow with a security deposit. Or you can contact Ryan Heavy Head via the Rattlesnakes of Lethbridge Facebook page and leave a message or contact him at 403-393-1897.