The State - News from Feb. 20, 1989

Several communities in well-to-do Marin County are raising a stink about a booming skunk population and some residents are getting desperate. “People are calling in saying they are seeing them (skunks) all over the place, not just in the rural areas,” said Wendy O’Neil, an assistant at the Marin Wildlife Center. “It’s really widespread.” The center has been averaging 20 to 30 skunk calls a day and the Marin Humane Society is taking about 25 complaints daily. The society is planning a seminar called “Skunks: Whose House Is It, Anyway?” Esther Silver, owner of a Point Reyes Station bookstore, knows only too well. So far, Silver has trapped six skunks under her shop and adjacent rental unit. “It’s a constant struggle,” she said. “You can’t even drive over the hill to San Rafael without going through three areas of skunk smells. Everybody’s complaining.”