When we (Dick Johnson and I) were mapping range limits and habitats for
the mammal book, the Spotted Skunk was one of the biggest mysteries.
There are very few records, and the records that exists don't make sense.
They are at low to mid elevations on the west side and and at low, arid
elevation in SE Washignton, two very different habitats. But there are
none on the east slope of the Cascades, an intermediate type habitat.
Some old sources show them in the east Cascades, but we couldn't track
their records. Granted, skunks of any kind are less likely than
non-aromatic mammals to end up in a museum due to road kill collecting (an
important source of museum records for mid-sized mammals), but on the
other hand, road-killed skunks are easy to find, and we would have
expected more notes about them. It's really not clear what's going on
with them. Striped Skunks have not been reported from the islands, while
Spotted Skunks do occur on at least Bainbridge and Vashon.

Somebody from State Fish and Wildlife (whose name I can't remember off the
top of my head, but it's in my notes somewhere) said it seemed that
Striped Skunk complaints declined as Opossum complaints increased. If
true, might not be a direct result of Opossum influx, though. Could be a
coincidental expansion and "neatening" of yards, which reduced insect
populations and maybe reduced populations of both skunks in developed
areas.

I sure don't see or smell many skunks in the Seattle area. 'Tis the
season of squashed 'possum and raccoon, though.

Kelly Cassidy

On Sun, 31 May 1998, Kelly Mcallister wrote:

>
>
> On Sun, 31 May 1998, Thomas Love wrote:
>
> > While we're on the topic, I was wondering if anyone in tweeterland has any
> > tips on locating and observing a Western Spotted Skunk. Any current,
> > specific locations in western WA or western OR?
>
> Wish I could help. Andrew Carey and others recently published some
> results of trapping in the Puget Sound lowlands and Spotted Skunks
> were noteworthy by their absence (if I remember the paper correctly).
>
> When I was about 12 years old living northwest of Olympia, I
> set a Havahart trap outside my homing pigeon house to try to
> catch the predator killing my pigeons. I caught a Spotted
> Skunk each of the three nights I set the trap. I remember
> that I spray painted the fur of one of the animals so I
> could tell if I caught the same skunk. I never saw the painted
> skunk again.
>
> Could Spotted Skunks be disappearing with hardly a notice?
>
> Kelly McAllister
>
>

Kelly Cassidy