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Travel up to the northernmost neighborhoods of Manhattan these days and you might catch a whiff of more than just gentrification in the air—now skunks have invaded Inwood and Washington Heights as well! The area where the only skunk smell formerly found was from the weed sold along Dyckman Street is now crawling with the unwanted pests. The Parks Department's chief naturalist says, “It really seems like the population has gone from zero to many. I’m not sure why."
Jim Dwyer of the Times gives a detailed account of the battle between the skunks and his neck of the woods (Washington Heights). The woodsy areas around Inwood Hill and Fort Tryon Parks have provided a comfy home for skunks. Apparently Animal Control will only pick them up if the skunks are "acting strangely" and might be rabid. The Parks rep adds, “In cities where we don’t have the high-level predators, the bobcats and coyotes, the mid-level predators like skunks and raccoons pretty much have free rein. No one is keeping their populations in check.”
The skunks have made their way into Manhattan after migrating from the Riverdale section of the Bronx. The Parks Department's website says that they are "common sights" along Tibbetts Brook in Van Cortlandt Park. Earlier this summer, rabid raccoons were being discovered throughout the city.
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Not just Manhattan. I live in Jersey City Heights on the palisade overlooking Hoboken and we've had a huge problem with them this summer--our street is infested.
They probably like to eat garbage. I remember skunks trying to get in our garbage when I was growing up. The worst thing is if your dog gets sprayed - takes forever to get the smell out of the fur. And of course your dog takes one look at the black furry creature and wants to go check it out.
For years, I've gone up to Inwood and WH looking for some skunk and have yet to be disappointed.
I have read somewhere that a miniscule amount of odor de skunk is used in some high-end perfumes.
Other scavengers have finally figured out what rats, mice, squirrels, and pigeons knew all along.
This article is a load of crap. There's been skunks there forever. Van Cortlandt park is enormous and they live in that area and wander out to forage. They are totally adapted to people, and I used to wander past them fairly regularly. In point of fact, skunks... possums... and the indomitable raccoon wander pretty regularly through all of the outer boroughs. Anyone who thinks this is a "new" occurrence is a hick living near clinton hill who thinks he/she's a new yorker and their assumptions are fact.
Agreed... but I've also seem possums in Chinatown & in Brooklyn. It's a effing heart-stopping site, so scary to realize its not a king sized rat!
I agree with Matt Joyce. Inwood has had skunks for years. With the only natural forest in Manhattan, it would be more worrisome if there were NO skunks!
Here in Brooklyn, some neighbor's dog got into a skunk in the backyard a couple weeks ago. I hadn't been privy to that smell in a while.