<p>While Rhonda Backus was working inside Alley’s General Store last weekend she noticed a crowd gathering outside.</p> <p>“It was a vibe of when the president drives by,” she said.</p> <p>But instead of watching a motorcade, the crowd had gathered to see a procession of black and white baby skunks.</p>
While Rhonda Backus was working inside Alley’s General Store last weekend she noticed there was a crowd gathering outside.
“It was a vibe of when the president drives by,” she said.
She went out to the porch to see what the commotion was about. “All of these visitors had their cameras out,” she said.
But instead of watching a procession of cars in a motorcade, the crowd had gathered to see a procession of black and white baby skunks.
“They were all marching around and the customers were screaming and running,” said Liz Greene, who also works at Alleys. “They were so cute because they followed each other with their tails up.”
As many as five to seven baby skunks (kits) were seen hanging around Alley’s porch over the weekend.
“One customer took three of them in the back of the lot and put them out by the trees,” said Ms. Greene.
Ms. Backus said that the kits’ mother was hit by a car on State Road last week.
At lunch time on Monday, two of the kits peeked their heads out from under the porch and meandered along the building’s foundation, foraging for food.
“I’m hoping they’ll leave and venture and find food elsewhere, and then they’ll be too big to go under there,” Ms. Backus said.
But for now, she doesn’t mind having the kits shelter under the store.
“They’re so adorable.”
Photo gallery: Baby Skunks at Alley's General Store.
Comments
Cute little critters! They
Donna Russell Braddock Bay, Lake Ontario, New YorkCute little critters! They won't be capable of full-scent spraying until they're about 4 months old, although they will spray a pleasant musky scent even as small "kits". They usually stay with their mothers for about a year, being protected by her and taught about food sources. They're very beneficial as they're particularly fond of grubs they find in lawns. These babies, with undeveloped scent glands and no mother, are at risk from dogs, cats, fox and older skunks, birds of prey (which don't smell skunks' spray), people afraid of skunks and the ubiquitous car. It's lovely that you're willing to shelter them under the store for awhile, although they may have trouble finding food. Hope they clean the local lawns of all those grass root-eating insects as a "thank you"!
I fed and raised 4 orphaned
Susan Beall Shippensburg, PaI fed and raised 4 orphaned skunk kits last summer who ended up in my horse barn. On the advice of a wildlife rehabilatator, I fed them soaked dog kibble, much better for them than cat food. I guess they figured out how to hunt on their own because as summer drew to a close we saw them less frequently until finally they wandered off to hibernate. Please feed and shelter these beneficial little orphans, they will repay you with cuteness and vermin hunting- we never saw any mice in the barn as long as they were there!
Add new comment