Well, this stinks. A mother skunk and two babies made their presence known early Wednesday morning when contractors working in the Otto Maass Chemistry Building began dumping material into a container between the Chemistry Building and the Pulp and Paper Building next door, along University Street.
Security staff were quickly called, cordoned off the area with tape and posted signs warning of the presence of a skunk spraying passers-by. Grounds personnel then reached a firm the University has used before to trap wildlife and release it in an appropriate environment.
But the first attempt at trapping failed when they couldn’t get both the mother and the baby skunks. Rather than separate the mother from her offspring, which would cause them distress, it was decided to wait and try again with more equipment. Once the skunks are caught, they will be humanely released into the wild, likely off the Island of Montreal in the Blainville area.
Urban wildlife is no stranger to the downtown campus. The same day, a raccoon was caught in the Burnside Hall parking garage.
Once the skunks have been moved to more suitable surroundings, the tape and signs will disappear and the passageway will be reopened.