Stayed awake all night last night and was out every two hours looking for skunks. Only saw one baby at around 4:00 a.m. No more families or groups just one visitor  looking for new territory to set up camp. Our No Vacancy sign is out in clear view.

This morning, I used 15 bags of clay litter to seal up the entrances to the two dens. Once they were sealed, I ran chicken wire around the entrances and secured all the edges down tight. I buried the wire about 8 inches below the ground as skunks are excellent burrowers. We had some old bricks piled behind the shop, so I used those bricks to further anchor my handiwork and discourage the skunks from digging.

There are now three of our cat traps that sustained some substantial damage from the adult skunks. Mike said two are beyond repair.our fishing net that we used to help capture the babies became another victim, skunks,   being such excellent burrowers, their claws are extremely sharp. Two managed to escape out of the net by shredding it in a matter of seconds. These items have been added to our Wish List.

Kota (who usually has to stayin his pen when he is outside) gave me clear confirmation this morning that the skunks were gone. When I let him out of his pen (after I finished my work on the dens) instead of running up the back stairs of the house, he took off like a crazy dog and did wide laps all the way back to the creek! After he got sprayed- he wanted nothing to do with the areas where the skunks normally were found. He must have done 20 laps and it was just joyous to watch him be the happy, energetic puppy. He was telling me, Look Mom, they are gone, I can be free again!

Our property still smells like skunk every so often but within a week, I am hoping all that will go away. Gone with the wind, so to speak.

This has been a very sobering lesson for us here. What a senseless waste of wildlife. Food at the feral feeder at night is now non-existent. During the day, the food trays are set up on the highest platform that is five feet high. We are not even setting out the food on the shelves below. Isn’t going to happen any longer.No food on the ground now period.

We still have to solve two more problems. Chessa, our outdoor kitty we got from Meow Village three years ago who also has hyperthyroidism- how to feed her because she can’t jump due to early abuse, where and how do we feed her? And how to add another entrance/exit to the new 24 hr.feeding room because I have a kitty ambusher who guards the only entrance/exit and won’t let all the cats inside to eat. But once we figure these last two problems out, our property will definitely be a skunk-free zone.