Skunks Stink, But Somehow We Must Love Them

Have you noticed how many dead skunks you find along the highways in February? We have just passed through, what I will call, “skunk genocide month.” There is a reason for this annual phenomenon and you can count on it to happen every year.

Skunks enter into winter dormancy and you see very few, if any of them, all winter long. When they awaken in February the first thing on their minds is mating and they begin prowling all over the countryside. They crisscross the highways in their search of mates and inevitably many die under the wheels of your cars, which is why you will see more dead skunks on the road now than any other time of year. It is also the reason you can more likely get sprayed by the essence of putrid rot than any other time of the year.