Mark Spielman is afraid of skunks.
The Nelson resident lives with his family on Silica Street, and it’s not unusual for him to look out into his backyard to find an entire family of the striped creatures gallivanting through the grass — he counted six one night last week.
“My family is afraid to go out into the yard after twilight because we don’t know what we’ll run into,” he told the Star.
“I tried spraying my hose to make them feel unwelcome, but they keep coming back. I think there’s just too many for the space we live in.”
Spielman lives across the street from Rod Sturtevant, who has been there for 36 years, and both men feel Nelson’s pest problem is getting out of control. To make matters worse, the city has ended its 13-year relationship with Nelson Urban Trappers — which means residents now have to pay for pest control out of their own pockets.
That doesn’t make sense to Sturtevant.
“Urban Trappers really knew what they were doing. They did a diligent job, they set up traps and check them while you’re still asleep. When I found out their contract wasn’t being renewed, I felt utter disbelief,” he said.
“If you don’t take care of a skunk problem, it becomes a real skunk problem. And we don’t need that in an area where students are walking by on their way to school every day.”
Last year 11 skunks were trapped in Sturtevant’s block. He lives in the vicinity of St. Joseph and Central schools, where skunks have a variety of burrows and dens under nearby porches and in places they can’t be disturbed. Sturtevant said many homeowners aren’t as vigilant as they could be about chasing out skunks or blocking access.
“I’ve been sprayed at, my cat and my dog have been sprayed, the neighbours across the street were sprayed, there was a cat door they got into — they’re used to what we have for them, and people need to be more careful.”
Skunk population ready to explode
Paul Luck of Nelson Urban Trappers estimates his outfit traps approximately 100 animals a season, during their 10-week, $15,000 contract, and warned that if they run free this summer their population could rise to 200 or 300 by next year.
Luck told the Star his company had hoped to continue their relationship with the city, but learned via email correspondence that the city was contemplating a new skunk strategy earlier this year. When the city asked Urban Trappers what they would charge per trapped skunk, Luck answered $300.
And if the city doesn’t pay that fee, starting this summer, it will be on the residents themselves if they want to hire Urban Trappers privately.
“The thing about the skunk population is nobody owns the skunks, they move around, so they could be living in one yard and feeding in others — so it’s hard to go up to a resident and say, ‘this is entirely on you,’” he said.
“The other thing is these litters are extremely large. A typical litter used to be three, five skunks, but these days we’re seeing as many as 10 skunks. So say you have seven skunks in your yard, are you really going to pay $2,400 to remove them?”
He said if the skunks aren’t kept in check, things could get ugly.
“The only thing that would stop a skunk explosion is disease. There’s a few natural predators, but none in town, and we don’t want our domestic animals getting involved with them as things get carried away.”
One problem they’ve faced in the past is when skunks crawl into the basements of businesses or houses and die, leaving a stench that makes the building temporarily uninhabitable.
Though he may have doubts about the city’s stated plan of embarking on an educational program with WildSafe B.C., there are no hard feelings.
“We’re OK with what happened with the city, we’re not angry. We had so much fun doing this and now we’re sitting back to see what the city does with their new plan.”
Kevin Cormack: ‘Skunks are normal’
City manager Kevin Cormack doesn’t think Nelson’s skunk problem is unique. Since there are no other like-sized communities with trapping programs, he agrees with WildSafe B.C. that the funds being spent on trapping could be better spent on education.
“Council had asked staff to look at the effectiveness of the trapping program, and to research what other communities are doing, while also connecting with WildSafe B.C.,” he told the Star.
Though many of the provincial organization’s programs are focused on the bear issue, the same issues are pertinent to skunks and raccoons.
“If we’re not managing our attractants, not only are we bringing more bears, we’re also now contributing to the skunk issue.”
Cormack noted that some parts of the community, such as Rosemont, have been more successful than others in implementing anti-wildlife measures such as bear-proof cans.
“The ultimate solution is being really skunk-aware and ensuring we’re not creating denning areas. Skunks are a normal part of our community.”
With issues involving dogs, he said owners should be aware they live in an area with wildlife and ensure they’re careful about when they let them off leash or out of the yard.
“Trapping 100 skunks is getting rid of 100 skunks, but they’re going to keep coming back and if we don’t deal with the denning or the attractants, it will be 200 or 300 next year.”
They’re attempting to think bigger than they have in the past.
“This is all linked, the skunk problem is the same as the bear problem and the fact is we need to stop putting Band-Aids on the problem and focus on doing a better job both as a city and as a community of managing our garbage.”
Now that they’ve ended their contract with Urban Trappers, the new contact person is local Wildsafe B.C. co-ordinator Dave White. When residents such as Sturtevant and Spielman have issues, he’s the one who will investigate and help deal with the issue.
“We’ll be monitoring what issues people are raising, we will contact Dave to work with them, and Dave will be in the position to provide education on attractants and denning areas, then work with them to close those denning areas.”
‘I’m ready to raise a stink’
Sturtevant has been following this issue closely, attending the most recent council meeting where they voted on their new skunk strategy.
“I’m ready to raise a stink. I tried contacting councillors, and the responses are becoming quite defensive. The city is well aware that I’ve been pursuing this,” said Sturtevant.
Spielman feels research into other communities’ approach to the problem could be useful. In the meantime, he said residents are taking matters into their own hands.
“I have a friend who traps all he can and drowns them in his yard. Nice guy, someone you’d otherwise have a lot of respect for, but he’s overrun with the things and he’s tired of cleaning his dog, so he just puts out his traps and right away they go into the water.”
He figures it’s sad, but necessary.
“This isn’t a problem that’s going away.”