While wearing a pair of gloves, gently pick up the cage using the handle of the trap.
Skunks can spray their smelly oil over a distance of over 10 feet, There has been instances where a skunk has sprayed over 20 feet with extreme accuracy. If you accidentally find yourself face to face with a skunk, you should do what you can to help the skunk feel as though it has room to escape. The spray has an oily appearance, and comes out of scent glands below the animals' tails. Notice I said accurately, this means at 15 feet away you’re at risk of the skunk spraying you right in the face! The spray can travel as far away as 18 feet if wind conditions are right. It's not a piece of dynamite waiting to explode.
The ability to spray starts early on in skunks.
Skunks have different personalities, and some are more likely to spray that others.
However, that is no comfort to anyone on the receiving end of skunk spray. He can definitely smell you as you sit in the garden, but suburban skunks spend a lot of time around human scent, so he doesn’t see you as a threat. When handling the trap with a skunk inside just be calm and gentle. Skunks can spray either in the form of a cloud -- which covers a larger surface and can serve to distract predators in pursuit -- or as a direct stream if the enemy is within range.
Skunks can be extremely accurate when spraying, easily hitting targets 6 feet away.
How Far can Skunks Spray?
The fluid is painful if it gets in a person's or pet's eyes and may cause temporary blindness for about 15 minutes. The pungent odor is noticeable up to a mile away and can last for weeks. The fact that you don’t move means you’re probably just part of the landscape to him. Skunks will usually stamp their feet, hiss or growl and raise their tail erect as a warning of an imminent discharge.
A skunk can spray accurately anywhere from 6-15 feet away. Slowly back away so that the skunk doesn't feel cornered or stand still if you have nowhere to go. The good news is that their supply is limited and it can take up to a week for them to produce more musk.
By the age of around three months skunks will have fully developed anal glands and will have the ability to spray, although one feature worth noting is that the older the skunk the better they will usually be at directing their spray. Skunks can spray at least six times in succession before running out. You may be surprised to know just how far a skunk can spray it’s musk, but it’s not really about the distance the skunk can spray but rather the accuracy it has.
If the skunk start to arch its back, stomp its feet, and raise its tail up these are signs that it may be about to spray. There is a myth that a skunk can only spray one time, this is not true.
A skunk can release a spray of oily liquid as far as 10-15 feet and spray up to six times in succession. Some very young skunks are able to do some very subtle spraying at merely weeks old, according to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Society of Saskatchewan.
Since skunks generally do not spray things they can not see, the blanket will calm the skunk down and prevent you from being sprayed.
The skunk can spray musk in a fine spray or stream.