Nose Pollution : Influx of Skunks Drives Resident to Extermination Plan

When Jan Bower goes to bed, the odor of skunks keeps her awake. Her 15-year-old daughter fares worse, becoming ill whenever the smell wafts her way.

When Bower leaves her Kellogg Drive home in the pre-dawn hours to head to the Santa Ana high-rise she manages, her anger grows at hearing the clicketyclack of skunk paws as the animals scatter to hide.

So, after weeks of asking the city and the county for help, Bower says, she has taken matters into her own hands, removing from her hillside property every skunk she can trap.

Over the past month, Bower has trapped 29 of them in her back yard. Using up to four metal cages baited with peanut butter, Bower traps the skunks during their nocturnal forays and then allows the daytime heat to kill them. She buries the carcasses in a “skunk graveyard” she has begun at the bottom of a hill.

“I don’t like to kill them, but I can’t live with the smell,” Bower said. “Somebody has been coming by and sometimes opening the cage. I guess I would tell somebody who thinks I’m being cruel to come and try living with the smell . . .

“I paid almost a million dollars for this home, and these skunks have almost driven me out of it.”

Hector Orozco, a game warden for the California Department of Fish and Game, said Bower can trap skunks on her own property, but killing them “by letting them bake in the sun” would be considered inhumane treatment of an animal, which could be a misdemeanor or felony punishable by fines, imprisonment or both. Poisoning them also would be illegal, as are traps that kill skunks instantly, because they also could kill a domestic cat.

“We understand her problem, but leaving the animals to slowly die in a box is not the way to solve it,” said Orozco, who said he probably would send someone to talk to her.

“I guess that means I should shoot them in the cages,” Bower said. “We tried that for a while. But when you do that, you sometimes hit their glands and you get sprayed.” Brea police say it also is illegal to fire a gun anywhere in the city.

Orange County Department of Animal Control officials said that they see no legal way Bower can kill the skunks and that she will have to learn to live with them or move.

Mark McDorman, the department’s chief of field services, said skunks must be coming to Bower’s property for a reason. They are attracted by food sources such as fruit trees, open garbage cans and dog and cat dishes, and hiding spots such as high brush and patio decks. The skunks will go elsewhere if those attractions are eliminated, he said.

“Skunks don’t just wander around,” McDorman said. “They go places for a reason because they are just as afraid of us as we are of them. But a lot of times the people don’t want to spend the money or take the time to do what is necessary.”

Orozco and McDorman both suggested that she hire a trapper who would catch the skunks and release them in the wilderness.

Bower said she tried that, too, but she was paying $60 for each animal that was trapped--more than $600 total--and it was not solving her problem.

“I would have gone broke,” she said. “I was beginning to think that when they were taking the skunks away, they were just driving around the corner and letting them go.”

Bower says that when she moved into her home three years ago, no one told her that skunks were a problem in the area. The smell was tolerable until last year, she said. And this year, the problem is out of control because of the heavy winter rains, she said.

“The things that they eat are so plentiful this year,” she said of the omnivorous animals. “A lot of people around here have fruit trees and vegetables. Things like avocados--they like to eat those.”

Norman Kamin, Bower’s neighbor and the owner of the avocado grove, said he allows her to set traps on his property but has no intention of getting rid of his trees.

“I don’t think I have as big a problem with (the skunks) as she does,” said Kamin, an investor. “I try to give the skunks room, like I’m sure they are trying to give me some room. And they haven’t been as bad on my property this year as they were last year. Skunks are not just a local problem, they are a problem throughout this region. Just look at the carcasses on Kellogg Road and Imperial Highway.”

Bower said she has received no help from government agencies.

City officials say they contract with the county for animal control services and would have directed Bower’s call there. McDorman, while not knowing Bower’s case specifically, said his department’s policy is to send an inspector to show a resident complaining of skunks how to get rid of them. The department will not kill skunks, however.

“We don’t eradicate wildlife,” he said. “That is not our expertise and, frankly, we don’t want to. But we will teach people how to protect their homes from nuisance wildlife.”

Bower says she wants something done.

“The city or somebody needs to take care of this,” Bower said. “I can’t take care of this by myself.”

But Marie Hulett-Curtner, public education officer for the county Animal Control Department, said Bower is fighting a battle she cannot win.

“No matter how many skunks she catches, there will always be more,” she said. “She has to make a decision. Does she want to live in a rural area with wildlife or not? Because the skunks are never going to go away.”

Keeping Skunks Away

* Clear brush in your yard.

* Seal points of access under your home with chicken wire.

* Strip or eliminate fruit trees.

* Do not leave pet food outdoors.

* Eliminate standing water.

* Tightly seal all trash containers.

* Sprinkle mothballs next to your house.

Source: Orange County Department of Animal Control