Skunks foraging in lawns in mid-Winter?
That just doesn’t sound right, but this picture sent from Darrel Camper of Landscape Supply Inc. (Charlottesville) surely looks like skunk damage to a lawn. Skunks are certainly on the move right now with plenty of smells and carcasses alongside and on the roads as a reminder of just how active they are. February/March is a prime mating season in this part of the world. A question was raised in terms of could the skunks be seeking grubs? Our VT Entomologists suggest that yes, they could, but that even with our warm winter weather, it is unlikely that grubs have begun to really move up very high in the soil profile to begin feeding on turfgrass roots just yet. That would not seem to be a very logical way to ensure survival with cold weather very much still on the horizon for the winter of 2016-17. However I was reminded that skunks also have a very strong affinity for earthworms and that this (or another soil-borne insect etc.) might be their food of choice during February.
Until I did some searching on the Virginia Tech website I was not even aware that we had a Center for Human-Wildlife Conflict Resolution. The website for this center is “designed to help Virginia residents and municipal leaders identify potential sources of assistance when confronted with problematic wild animal concerns”. The site contains a lot of great information on the damage (and likely wild animal cause of said damage and what can or can’t be done to legally address the problem(s). Skunks get their own webpage on the site, so get up to speed on your conflict resolution skills with skunks by visiting