Why did God make stinky skunks?

If I could call God on my cell phone to get a direct answer to “Why on earth did You make stinky skunks?” I certainly would do it, especially after the second time our little dog, Charley got sprayed by The. Most. Horrific. Smell. in nature. I would even pay additional charges for the extra-long distance call, if I could just get a straight answer from the Creater of the Universe.

Charley’s first experience was bad enough, but it was a young skunk, and I don’t think Charley really got a direct spray. The second time, however, Charley’s neck was soaking wet! Our house reeked for days! And while our entire neighborhood knows there is a problem, it wasn’t until I saw the whole stinky family that I really got concerned.

Thursday night, July 22nd, was her second experience. I let her out before bedtime, and I think she basically ran right into a stinker, because almost immediately after I let her out, I smelled it. I ran to the door and she ran in, bringing the horrific smell in with her. We had just gotten to where the house wasn’t too bad since the first go-round. Later, I took her out on a leash in our front yard, thinking we were safer there. That is, until I saw them. Charley saw them first. She was midstream in her squat, when I noticed that she was freeze-framed in a stare towards the street. And then I saw what she was looking at. I counted seven little tails up in the air, waddling behind their Stinky Momma. SEVEN! You know, they really are kind of cute. But no! Those little stinkers grow up to be Big Stinkers!

So we’ve gone to the internet to find out how to keep them out of our yard, and so far, we think we are having some success. But we’ve not let Charley out by herself after dark; we only take her out on her leash so we can grab her if we have to make a dash. One thing suggested was to put moth balls along the perimeter of our yard, but we didn’t like that because that would be poisonous if Charley somehow got a hold of a moth ball. But Bob, my problem-solving husband, used a bunch of ice cream buckets (those big buckets that we save because we just might have a use for them sometime!), poked holes into the sides and lids of the buckets, and then set the buckets at intervals along the outside of our fences. The other thing Bob has been doing is tossing orange peels on the ground around the outside of the fences, as we’ve learned skunks are deterred by the citrus smell. Maybe we’re getting a little too confident, but we’ve not smelled them close by in five days.

So, even though I haven’t gotten a straight answer from God on my question about why He created stinky skunks, I have gotten an answer on the internet.

Skunks are supposedly good to have around and are even a form of natural pest control. Skunks are conveniently, if not surprisingly, one of the most efficient and effective natural pest controllers to their natural environment. Skunks have very few natural predators. Well, that’s not surprising; there’s not another animal that would want to get that stink sprayed on them! Charley just has to learn that it’s not worth it, trying to chase them out of our yard!

Skunks will happily eat a varied diet that includes, but is not strictly limited to include berries, birds, earthworms, eggs, frogs, fungi, grass, grubs, insects and insect larvae, leaves, lizards, mice, moles, nuts, plant and small tree roots, salamanders, shrew, and snakes. The skunk’s ability to eat such a wide range of foods and adapt to the foods that are available to them is part of their charm. Charm? There is no “charm” in that smell that hung in our house for days. We still get a whiff of it from time to time.

And aside from her collar, Charley is back to being welcome on my lap again, and that’s what really matters.