skunk orphan – Humane Wildlife Removal

What should you do if you find a baby skunk without its mother?

If you find an orphaned baby skunk, the first thing you should do is sit and observe it. Make sure it’s actually orphaned and that it is in fact a baby skunk rather than a young skunk. It’s uncommon, but sometimes the mother skunk will leave her den to forage for food without her babies. You should wait an hour or two to see if the mother returns to the den, if she does not, it’s likely that those babies are abandoned and in need of assistance.

Another telltale sign of a baby skunk being orphaned is if you see them walking around during the day time. Skunks are nocturnal animals meaning it’s extremely unlikely that they’ll be active during the day. If you see a baby skunk running around in the daytime, observe it and be sure its mother isn’t nearby. If she’s not, call wildlife removal professionals to have them help you take care of the baby skunk or consider rehabilitating it yourself if it’s injured.

If you find a skunk, especially a baby skunk, that’s been injured, the easiest solution is to call wildlife control specialist. They’ll be able to help rehabilitate the skunk and release it back into the wild. If the skunk is seriously injured then it’s irrelevant whether or not the mother skunk is nearby because skunks don’t survive well in the wild with intense injuries– be sure to help the injured skunk as soon as possible.

It’s not a good idea to keep a skunk, baby or otherwise, as a household pet under any circumstances. Skunks love to dig holes which will leave your yard in shambles. Skunks can inflict serious damage to someone with their ability to spray, claw, and bite. They’re also not likely to get along with your other household pets- let alone unfamiliar humans.

If you notice that baby skunks are injured and in need of rehabilitation and you don’t think that calling wildlife control is a good use of resources, you could rehabilitate them yourself– just don’t get too attached and domesticate the skunk. To catch injured baby skunks, slowly move towards them or their den. Offer the skunks food to get them to begin to trust you and come closer then, you can put a box over the skunks to contain them. Once you do that, simply scoop up the box and you can begin rehabilitating your baby skunks!