There's a peculiar odor in the evening wafting through Land Park, and I'll be the first to tell you that's it's trouble with a capital T -- that rhymes with P and stands for pot. Well, not really. But a friend of mine walked out on my back porch, sniffed and exclaimed loud enough for my neighbors to hear, "Who's smoking pot around here?" Not that I really have any first-hand evidence of that smell, mind you, but I have seen with my own two little eyes what is causing it.
It's skunks!
Now, if I was Barbara Duncan in Searcy, Arkansas, I would have a real photograph to show you, but I see these critters only in the dark. Here is a photo to the right that I did not take but is a close enough resemblance.
We had episodes a few years ago when the skunk problem in Land Park was out of control. Unfortunately, the lovely lingering odor is back.
Every night around dusk and in the early morning hours, I spot those critters with the white stripes down their backs scurrying down my drive, heading for a hole under my back-yard deck. I have plugged up the hole, but those darn rats with a bushy tail keep digging it back out.
There is more than one because I've tracked their footprints across my back deck. Here is a photo I shot to the left. What does that look like to you? It looks like long claws attached to little skunk feet to me.
I am going to fight back. No, I'm not sending my husband into the yard with a BB gun. Although the thought did cross my mind, but we don't own a BB gun, and I'm not certain he's a good shot. He might hit a neighboring cat or his own car. Let's just say we're not hunters in this household.
There's only one sure way to get rid of the skunks in Land Park. Call Animal Control. For $20, they'll send out a representative with a skunk trap to capture the little critters. It's a humane trap, so it doesn't kill them. Of course, what they do with the skunk after they come to retrieve it, well, I don't really want to know.
If you have a problem with skunks in your yard, call the City of Sacramento at 3-1-1 or email: 311@cityofsacramento.org
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming June 2009.
Photos: Skunk prints, Elizabeth Weintraub; skunk, Big Stock Photo
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Certified HAFA Specialist
My Sacramento Real Estate Listings
Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.
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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.
The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.
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Oh my word.... what a unique way to be under siege. That's priceless in a stinky sort of way (LOL). I've seen your yard and can understand why they like it. It's beautiful. Very comfy, indeed. :-)
Elizabeth - That's funny that you and Barbara are both having problems with skunks! They sure are cute, too bad they smell so bad... :)
EEEWWWEEE!!! GROSS! Although we don't have skunks around here, we do have our fair share of wildlife mostly just rabbits, gophers (and big suckers) and, of course, the coyotes.
Elizabeth: One of my good friends has a brother who does pest removal. They usually relocate these furry critters to heavily wooded areas, away from densely populated neighborhoods. Good luck.
LOL....I've only smelled that before when driving by the side of the road type skunk. It's definitely a distinct odor and glad I don't have any of them lingering around. YUK!
Elizabeth
People still smoke those marijuana cigarettes? I did not know that they smelled like a skunk. I do know what a skunk smells like; I have had to get those out of my barn when I would get new chicks. That was not a pleasant thing. I can understand the "madness" your neighbor must be going through with the smell.
Sincerely
Tom Braatz
Elizabeth, skunk smell has to be one of the worst and most pervasive odors on the planet! On one hand, it's funny, since they're such cute looking critters. But on the other hand, they are NOT to be tangled with! ;-) Good luck with the siege! LOL
Ewwwww! We just have deer, fox and turkey vultures here ! The vultures are ugly enough!
He might hit a neighboring cat
HAHAHAHAHAHAH !!!!!
We get Skunkies all the time in NJ... it's amazing how far that stink will stretch, and how it works its way through windows and doors and cracks into your house !!!
Well good luck -- I suggest you dont consider petting them, even though they look fluffy and harmless
He is about to become handy after years in training, but as a former Army MP, he was great with guns from the time I met him. Hopefully the pest folks will catch those stinky little critters for you quickly. They will certainly stink up a place if something frightens them.
We had the problem at the golf course and the greens keeper indicated they were there because of the grubs under the grass and if he got rid of the grubs the skunks would leave. I haven't seen them for some time I wonder if that's the cure?
Elizabeth,
I used to see them in New York, but never here, even though I read tht they are here. Maybe our alligators are taking care of this potential problem.
Need one?
Elizabeth, I'm sitting here laughing my _ _ _ off because you now have the nocturnal visitors also. Want me to send you my trap??? Remember you made my daughter cry because you told her the animal control would take them off and KILL them??? They really just take them off and turn them loose somewhere else and I ordered mine delivered to Sacramento! LOL Really LOL!!
Poor Peppi. He just wants to be loved.
Hey Elizabeth!
I live close to Cal..only the other side of Land Park Drive...and haven't noticed the odor! How close are you? I did notice a skunk (road kill - not alive) on the 16th Street onramp to the freeway. I hope they aren't migrating my way!
Have some tomato juice handy for when he gets sprayed. Goog luck, LOL
There's never a dull moment in Land Park. Just moments ago, some guy or woman in a blue Saturn swerved around the corner and slammed into a parked car, crushing the driver's side. I was talking on my cell to a client and staring out the living room window when I saw the accident. He/she pulled up in front of my house, stopped, looked at me, looked back at the bumper he/she left glued to the car he/she hit, gunned the gas and roared off down the street.
Whaaaat? The water heater isn't strapped, sorry . . .
I quickly finished my call and called the police. They found the car within 10 minutes, but I don't know if they found the driver. We Land Park residents look out for each other. This stuff happens everywhere in Sacramento.
I'd gladly deal with a skunk today than some hit-and-run driver. The woman whose car was hit came to visit her mom and didn't expect this, I'm sure.