A More Odorous Invader Joins the Party

By CATE DOTY

Skunks have wandered down to Manhattan, noticeably. Even when they are unseen.

Never mind the raccoons. Here come the skunks.

Earlier this week, we at City Room posted a tale about the newly found brashness of New York City’s raccoons. But several readers commenting on that article told us: Hold on. What about the skunks?

For residents of northern Manhattan and the Bronx, skunks have become the stinkiest unwanted guests of them all. Earlier this spring, residents of Co-op City complained of the striped stinkers invading the garbage, and Inwood and Washington Heights have dealt with them for several years. Last year, our colleague Jim Dwyer, a longtime Heights resident, wrote about an invasion of Bronx skunks into Manhattan that touched off a great skunk battle at his own co-op. Relocation of the critters, he said, was futile. They just came right back.

Since then, the skunks have solidified their grasp on Washington Heights and have been seen as far south as Riverside Park. Dog owners have reported encounters in which their pooches, which think the skunks’ prespray dance is an offer for play, never win. Animal control workers have reported an increase in calls, especially since the spring mating season.

Karen Greene, a resident of Washington Heights, said the distinct odor wafts in through the windows of her apartment, which faces Fort Washington Avenue. She also sees them on her regular walks through the Heather Garden in Fort Tryon Park.

“You hear a rustling in the bushes,” she said. “I used to think it was a squirrel.” Now she walks through the park a little faster.

Richard Simon, the deputy director of the city’s Urban Park Rangers, said no hard numbers for the skunk migration were available, although there had been a noticeable increase in Manhattan in the past few years.