Skunks and Seven Mile Beach: Imperfect Together

STONE HARBOR — This borough has $4.4 billion in ratables. Its residents fatten Cape May County’s tax coffers with just over $8 million annually. It features clean beaches, padded tennis courts, manicured and flower-bedecked traffic islands on Second Avenue and…skunks.
The malodorous nocturnal creatures have no regard for wealth or status, and seek only humble places to reside, and that brings them into conflict with homeowners.
According to Councilman Randall Bauer, chair of the Natural Resources Committee at the Tue., Nov. 16 borough council meeting, there have been many complaints of the black and white furry animals.
If wishes could come true, those mammals would vanish from Seven Mile Beach. Complaints from Avalon have also been voiced in Spout Off about them and the foul odor they produce. Some claim the stench prevents leisurely evening strolls or other outdoor entertaining in the summer.
Like them or not, Bauer delivered the unpopular message, “They are an indigenous species to the island.”
That means they have a right to be there, and the state will not condone them being rounded up and transferred to less populated places.
“If skunks are evident under your home or in a shed structure,” said Bauer, police should be notified and they will contact the Middle Township Animal Control Officer.
The borough has an interlocal agreement with Middle Township for animal complaints, he said. The officer will set traps next to a structure in hopes of humanely trapping the skunk for removal.
Should skunks be seen “walking down the street at night, we are not going to get the kind of reduction most of us would like to have,” Bauer said.
“Unless they are impinging on your quality of life and are under and in your home, we cannot, by state law, cart them off,” he added.
“We have read enough of what happened in Avalon,” he said, regarding the skunks, which are as unwelcome there as here.
Police and members of council have gotten many skunk calls, he added, but sad to note, “They come with the territory,” said Bauer.
“If they are under your house, call 368-2111, the police non-emergency number and they will follow through with the correct procedure to get the skunks out,” Bauer said.
Should a skunk, which is a nocturnal creature, be spotted during daylight hours, Bauer warned, “It’s not supposed to be out in the day, and there is a high probability they have rabies,” he said.
In that case, a call to the police would be warranted.
A skunk’s diet consists of beetles, caterpillars, crickets and grasshoppers. When they are not in abundance, skunks will also eat mice, rats and other small rodents as well as eggs, fruit, grain and the flesh of dead animals.
Contact Campbell at (609) 886-8600 Ext 28 or at: al.c@cmcherald.com