ThisWeek CW 09/13/2012
More than a dozen residents made a stink about skunks last week, telling Canal Winchester council that the animals are a public nuisance and should be dealt with by the city.
Current city code says residents are responsible for paying to trap wildlife – such as skunks – that invade their property.
“My dogs have been sprayed five times,” Cherokee Drive resident Erin Burchwell said. “I spoke with the city’s animal trapper and he said he normally traps about three skunks a year but over the last year, it’s been 50 to 60.
“We’ve done what the (city)website has said: boarded up barns and cleaned up compost piles. What we want is your help.”
Ohio Department of Natural Resources biologist Gary Comer fielded questions during the Sept. 4 city council meeting about a pervasive skunk problem in Canal Winchester.
In addition to the 15 or so residents who attended the meeting, Burchwell said she was there representing about 30 of her neighbors.
“If we have a neighbor who’s letting them live under her house and may be feeding them, then they come and spray my dogs, that’s a public nuisance, and the city should deal with it,” Burchwell said.
Councilman Rick Deeds asked if current legislation prevents a resident from harboring the skunks.
“We have property maintenance codes that deal with harboring animals,” Development Director Lucas Haire said.
However, Haire and the city law director were not clear if current laws would allow the city to take action, due to limited information about who might be harboring the skunks.
Comer said laws regarding how nuisance wildlife can be dealt with vary greatly between municipalities. He noted that some people do keep skunks as pets.
“If you trap a skunk, we recommend you euthanize it, either using an American Veterinary Association-approved method or a gunshot — but most residents can’t do that because of laws about firing guns in the city,” Comer said.
According to Comer, poisons are illegal for larger animals like skunks, and could be dangerous to children and other animals.
“That’s why we recommend exclusion methods,” he said.
Exclusion methods are those listed on the city website. These include patching holes in buildings, removing brush piles and other debris that might provide shelter, and eliminating any food sources.
“So if you’ve taken care of the obvious — removing food and cover, burying fence around structures so they can’t burrow — after that, if you still have a problem, you have to call someone to capture and remove them,” Comer said.