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A skunk is one of those kinds of animals that you want to do all you can to keep them out. While you should have serious concerns about the pathogens and diseases these animals carry, most of us worry about them because of the horrible odor that they can release when they are startled by a potential predator. This will cause them to turn, lift their tail, and spray, making you run in fear from the horrific odor.



To stop these animals from getting onto your property, many decide to put up a fence, believing that this will become the perfect option to deter a skunk from being able to get onto their land. It properly constructed so that it doesn't leave any gaps or holes to it, this becomes the perfect option to keep a skunk out. Or is it? What you may want to know is can a skunk climb a fence?

While you may not like to hear this, a skunk is actually quite exceptional at being able to climb. Not only are they good at it, they like to do it, which means that your fence may pose no issue to them whatsoever.

The clause on a skunk are extremely sharp and powerful, meaning that they are able to dig their way into virtually any kind of material to be able to climb. It does not matter whether you have a wooden fence, chain-link fence, or some other kind, of skunk is able to climb these fences with relative ease. This makes keeping them out and even greater challenge for you.

What you need, and terms of offense, to keep them out is actually a solid metal fence. The reason behind this is that the skunk is not able to dig its long claws into the fence, denying it the ability to climb. This becomes your deterrent if you are finding that you are having an issue with skunks getting onto your land. Because of their inability to pierce the metal sheets they are blocked out from getting up the fence in your problem is resolved.

Of course, metal is significantly more expensive than using wood, but if you are having a problem with skunks and find that you cannot get them to stay away, then this is really the best option for you.

You may find that by turning to a metal fence that you solve a lot more problems than just a skunk. A possum is also an animal that can climb and they are able to get up a wood or chain link fence quite easily, so using a metal fence can be the perfect solution to solve more than one problem. You will also find that this will help you with other animals that can pose a risk by trying to break wooden fences or who look to work their way through the links in a chain link fence.

Put this kind of fence up and you will find that your skunk problem is likely resolved.

Do skunks climb trees or fences?

Skunks are known for many things. They have a bad-smelling liquid to spray around when they feel threatened, and long, sharp claws to help them dig and burrow underneath stuff to make a home or get into a property with a fence. Some species of skunk have even shown themselves to be rather expert climbers too, although the same can't be said for all sub-species.



The striped skunk — the black and one white that you are most likely to encounter in your back yard — doesn't actually have the best climbing ability behind it, but still does a pretty good job of climbing into places it really wants to get into. We guess we could add stubborn to the list of traits for this sometimes cute and occasionally smelly striped scavenger.

It is the long claws that give the skunk their problem when climbing. They get in the way a lot. They can't climb trees all that well, but wooden boards and wire-style fencing doesn't often pose too much of a problem, especially if it's not that high.

In some areas of the United States, the spotted skunk can be a problem, and this is a sub-species of skunk with expert climbing skills. Found in southeast and central regions of the USA, there are four further sub-species, with the Eastern Spotted Skunk found in eastern regions of the USA, and the Western Spotted Skunk found in western areas. For the record, the Eastern Spotted Skunk is actually classed as an endangered species, meaning that you would need to take great care when encouraging the creature to leave your property alone.

All subspecies of spotted skunk are well known to climb excellently, being able to climb trees headfirst both up and down.



For more information, you may want to click on one of these guides that I wrote:
How much does skunk removal cost? - get the lowdown on prices.
How to get rid of skunks - my main skunk removal info guide.