When you step outside to take out the trash at night, the last thing you want to run into is a skunk. Unfortunately, skunks are a common sight in urban, suburban, and rural settings in the Oklahoma City area, often wandering closer to our homes than we would like. This may lead you to wonder why skunks are attracted to your property in the first place.
Skunks are opportunistic scavengers that are always looking for an easy meal. Oftentimes, skunks encroach on homes around Oklahoma City because they’ve discovered that people leave lots of food out for them to eat. Expired chicken legs and rotting apple cores may not look very appetizing to you, but skunks are more than happy to dine on any food waste that you throw in your garbage. Pet food left outside overnight is also likely to attract hungry skunks. Plus, our yards are often inhabited by grubs – a favorite food of skunks.
Other times, skunks move in close to humans because they are looking for a safe place to build a den and raise young. Fortunately, unlike other nuisance wildlife such as raccoons and squirrels, skunks rarely come into our homes directly. However, these critters are more than happy to dig out a home beneath raised sheds and porches, and inside of crawl spaces. To make matters worse, skunks are more territorial if they are raising kits on your property, making it likelier that you’ll get sprayed.
Between the risk of getting sprayed and the damage that skunks can cause with their digging behaviors, these are animals you definitely don’t want for neighbors. Contact Champion Pest & Lawn today if you’re in need of professional skunk removal services in the Oklahoma City metro area!