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It was a rainy summer night in Jamie Bee and Joe Wilson’s backyard in Elmhurst when the married couple’s German shepherd, Dozier, spotted an intruder.
Using hunting instincts, Dozier chased down the trespasser and grabbed it by the neck. When Dozier mercifully dropped the stranger, the invading skunk thanked the dog by lifting its tail and spraying him in the face.
Two months later, Dozier still smells, there are a handful of skunks squatting in the neighborhood, and Bee and Wilson, among other residents, are wondering why the city won’t do anything to stop the skunks roaming the city over the past few years.
“They come out here at 3:30, 4 o’clock and they’re out here all night, every single night” Bee said. “This can’t happen every day on our block, it’s annoying.”
Wilson added he’s concerned about city apathy toward the problem.
“The biggest issue is that they won’t do anything, our neighbors have to let their kids in at five o’clock,” he said. “Anytime we call the city they say ‘it’s not our problem.’”
The Elmhurst Police Department has 10 traps available to residents, but has guidelines requiring that the traps be given only to residents with emergency situations such as animals entering the home, damaging property or posing an immediate threat to residents.
The guidelines explicitly deny access to city traps for spraying dogs, getting into gardens or garbage or “any other problem where there is a preventable solution.” The police refer these complaints to private contractors who remove the skunks, a service Wilson said can get expensive.
“So you want me to pay $120 everytime there’s a skunk, there’s like four skunks in the vicinity,” Wilson said.
Bee said she was concerned the city would wait to help residents only when there already is property damage, instead of offering traps before it gets to that point.
Wilson said their family has spent more than $200 between shampoos and calling a contractor to remove a skunk.
A police report on skunk prevalence in the city says that the department provides traps to more than 500 residents each year to remove skunks, whose presence has grown in the city since feeding on the cicada emergence in the summer of 2007.
Sgt. Michael Burroughs said animal control actually has seen a decrease in skunk sightings over the summer, and said the number will continue to fall with the coming winter.
It was a rainy summer night in Jamie Bee and Joe Wilson’s backyard in Elmhurst when the married couple’s German shepherd, Dozier, spotted an intruder.
Using hunting instincts, Dozier chased down the trespasser and grabbed it by the neck. When Dozier mercifully dropped the stranger, the invading skunk thanked the dog by lifting its tail and spraying him in the face.
Two months later, Dozier still smells, there are a handful of skunks squatting in the neighborhood, and Bee and Wilson, among other residents, are wondering why the city won’t do anything to stop the skunks roaming the city over the past few years.
“They come out here at 3:30, 4 o’clock and they’re out here all night, every single night” Bee said. “This can’t happen every day on our block, it’s annoying.”
Wilson added he’s concerned about city apathy toward the problem.
“The biggest issue is that they won’t do anything, our neighbors have to let their kids in at five o’clock,” he said. “Anytime we call the city they say ‘it’s not our problem.’”
The Elmhurst Police Department has 10 traps available to residents, but has guidelines requiring that the traps be given only to residents with emergency situations such as animals entering the home, damaging property or posing an immediate threat to residents.
The guidelines explicitly deny access to city traps for spraying dogs, getting into gardens or garbage or “any other problem where there is a preventable solution.” The police refer these complaints to private contractors who remove the skunks, a service Wilson said can get expensive.
“So you want me to pay $120 everytime there’s a skunk, there’s like four skunks in the vicinity,” Wilson said.
Bee said she was concerned the city would wait to help residents only when there already is property damage, instead of offering traps before it gets to that point.
Wilson said their family has spent more than $200 between shampoos and calling a contractor to remove a skunk.
A police report on skunk prevalence in the city says that the department provides traps to more than 500 residents each year to remove skunks, whose presence has grown in the city since feeding on the cicada emergence in the summer of 2007.
Sgt. Michael Burroughs said animal control actually has seen a decrease in skunk sightings over the summer, and said the number will continue to fall with the coming winter.
“There might be an increase in sightings at this time, due to the skunks’ normal preparation for winter,” he said in an e-mail message. “Skunks are not very resilient to the cold climate. If we have a cold winter the less skunks will survive, thus reducing population to a normal level.”
Residents have seen skunks all over the city, especially when they emerge at dusk. For now, it seems Bee and Wilson will have to stand by and hope that the police department’s prediction about the skunks dying off in the winter will be correct.
“Just something would be nice other than ‘it's not our problem, we don't deal with it,’” Bee said.
Wilson contends that inaction now might allow for more skunks in the future.
“They should at least have some sort of cleanup, the more skunks, the more they're gonna breed,” he said. “If they’re not doing anything now, I can't imagine what next year will be like.”
Animal control can be reached through the police at (630) 530-3050. To see the guidelines for handing out a trap, visit http://il-elmhurst.civicplus.com.
