They weren’t the visitors one Calgary woman expected but sure enough, there they were: seven skunks parading across her doorstep caught on her doorbell camera.
“I noticed that the first skunk starts coming out from the corner here… before you know it there’s another little guy coming, and then two more,” Jane Ready said after she watched the video. “Another guy and then I thought it was done … But wait here come a few more … Seven in total!”
“I thought, ‘Oh boy, we have a problem.’ One — maybe not a problem. Seven — we might want to look into this.”
It wasn’t the first time Ready’s doorbell camera has been activated in the middle of the night.
“The night before we had caught a coyote going across our front lawn and then the night before that we had one skunk that came across,” Ready said.
But she said there hasn’t been any activity quite like the surprise she caught Friday night.
“Seven skunks? Nothing like this.”
Ready said if not for the video, she would have never known the family stopped by.
She’s just glad they continued on their way and didn’t hang out until morning.
Ken Cheek, wildlife zoologist and owner of Calgary Humane Wildlife Control, said it’s normal to see skunks out and about at night this time of year, however, what is unusual in the wintertime is seeing them travelling as a family.
“This could be a late litter, maybe they’re not quite sure what they should be doing. Well obviously, if you didn’t see mom, these guys are on their own and they’re just going by looking for whatever they can find,” Cheek said.
According to Cheek, skunks are dormant for about a month during the coldest part of winter. They may den together in winter for warmth, but generally are not sociable critters.