Rescued Baby Skunks Pounce for Crickets in Preparation for Release

By Jessica Mullins 

The young skunks rescued this spring from a Mill Valley Storage Facility recently had a hunting lesson at San Rafael’s Wildcare.

See them learn to pounce on insects in the above video Wildcare officials posted to their YouTube channel.

Wildcare officials organized the insect hunt to ensure the skunks have the skills they need before they are released in the wild, according to the video description.

The juvenile skunks can spray at this age and will spray anyone who attempts to handle them, with the exception of their foster dad. 

A skunk’s diet includes slugs, snails, mice and rats.

The babies were just week-old infants when their den was destroyed in April, when construction crews moved a heavy storage container and uncovered the seven skunks that still had their eyes and ears closed. They will grow up in foster care until they are old enough to be released to the wild.

Since the skunks passed their hunting experience, Wildcare officials will move them to a final caging, which involved no human contact, for their final stage of development. 

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