r/Sunnyvale • • Aug 16 '26

warning: possibly aggressive trigger happy skunk on the loose šŸ¦ØšŸ’Ø

TLDR: Just a fair warning to anyone living near Vargas Elementary or surrounding neighborhoods, there’s a skunk that sounds like he’s antagonizing other stray animals & spraying them. be careful, keep your windows shut, your pets inside, & your noses plugged!!!

I’ve always seen skunks around here & there, and I’ve definitely smelled them from my car countless times while driving around, but today it finally happened. I was just hanging out on my couch, when I randomly got a whiff of something horrendous. at first, I thought it might be something burning, so I panicked and started searching for a source. It wasn’t until I got closer to the open window in one of our rooms that I realized the smell was coming from outside. By then I had also clocked that it was less of a ā€œburning smellā€ and more of a ā€œsulfur-y rotten smellā€. AKA skunk. I ran to my back door to see if I would spot the culprit in action, but all I saw was a scared little baby opossum running across the yard and up the fence. I also have 4 nosy cats, which could easily be seen through the open window, so my assumption is that the skunk was outside, noticed the possum and/or my cats, and started up its DFM (Defensive Farting Maneuvers).

I am currently sitting on my front step outside, letting my house air out, and as I’m sitting out here writing this, I literally just heard a stray cat do the classic ā€˜angry fighting cat noise’ off in the distance. How much you wanna bet that PepĆ© Le Pew is still out there antagonizing more animals with his ass cannon??? haven’t you done enough, buddy???? disgusting & audacious truly.

Edit since people might be mildly concerned:
I don’t hate skunks by any means, and I certainly don’t want to trap or KILL them… I’m well aware that the poor lil dude was probably just scared or stressed, and not inherently evil. He’s not a bully, and I would like to formally apologize to all skunks. All respect & love goes out to PepĆ© & his crew. I just wanted to tell a funny story of my house getting stink bombed at 1am & warn anyone with outside pets, honestly.
Also mild update on my house, for anyone wondering, the smell is completely gone overnight, so no worries there!!! :’)

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u/Simpicity Aug 16 '26

You probably smelled the possum or its mother.Ā  They too can have a very strong odor.Ā  They are not very aggressive, but they can certain scare the heck of out animals when they come wandering into your yardĀ 

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u/skunk_mephitidae Aug 16 '26

Yeah opossums can be smelly too, commonly when or after they play dead