What should I do if I find an orphaned baby skunk alone?

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A wandering skunk is not necessarily an orphaned skunk. Sometimes, an adolescent skunk may wander away from its mother and get lost in the process. In such cases, the mother skunk is likely to come back and search for the lost one, but chances are that it will never be found. This skunk can also be treated as an orphaned skunk.

In the real sense, an orphaned skunk is one whose mother is already dead or trapped and relocated. Such a skunk, if found, needs help and the humane way is to do all that you can to help it.

The first thing to do when you find a possibly orphaned skunk is to stick around for a while and just watch to see if its mother comes back for it or not. If she does not return, then you can safely conclude that it is indeed an orphaned skunk, who needs help.

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Observe the skunk to see if it appears independent - walking, digging, looking healthy, and with its eyes well opened. In this case, you may not need to provide any help as it is matured enough to be away from its mother to forage on its own.

Next, you should invite an animal control professional or animal rehabilitator, who can take adequate care of the orphaned skunk. They are experts and experienced in everything that pertains to survival for the kit – the right kind of food, the right place to keep it and the right manner to approach it without getting attacked. Other options you may want to consider, such as taking care of the orphaned skunk yourself, will do more harm to it than good.

Do not attempt to raise baby skunks on your own; they are wild animals and should be handled as such. A lot of people have tried to raise baby skunks as pets on their own and ended up killing them inadvertently. In other cases, individuals would hand the baby skunks over to animal rehabilitators after taking care of them for some time; but they would still die because they have been fed the inappropriate foods and raised the wrong way.

You must take great precautions to protect yourself while handling baby skunks. Wear thick rubber gloves and boots, as well as protective clothes. Skunks are carriers of several parasites and diseases

Go back to the Skunk Removal page, or learn tips by reading How to get rid of skunks.