"Skunk spotted on the streets of Coventry"

A wild skunk could be set to cause a stink in Coventry after one of the striped creatures appears to have been spotted on the streets of the city.



The animal was snapped by a gob-smacked passer-by as it skulked down Wyken Croft in the city shortly before midnight on Saturday.

How a skunk would have ended up in the city is a mystery as the animals are naturally found in America, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Skunks are known for spraying a strong smelling liquid from their back passage as a defence from predators.

The driver who filmed the animal told the Telegraph: “I was on my way home at around 11.45pm and as I was driving down Wyken Croft I noticed what I thought was a cat walking along the pavement but when I looked again I realised it was a skunk!

“So I stopped my car and reversed back to take some photos because I thought no one would believe me if I told them.

“The area is always full of wild animals, I often have foxes and hedgehogs in my back garden, but I’ve definitely never seen a skunk before!”

Occurrences of skunks being spotted in the UK are extremely rare. It thought those that are seen in the wild would have been pets that have escaped from owners or been abandoned.

Escaped from the council house?

Skunk update: Owner hoping to be reunited with pet seen wandering around Coventry



Shandy the pet skunk has caused a bit of a stink in Coventry – after escaping from a back garden.

The animal was snapped by a gobsmacked motorist as it wandered down Wyken Croft just before midnight on Saturday.

How a skunk would have ended up in the city was initially a mystery as the animals are naturally found in America, the Philippines and Indonesia.

However, after the story appeared on our website its owner came forward to say it had escaped from their garden in Henley Green on Thursday night or Friday morning.

Rebecca Hancox said: “She isn’t what I would call friendly as she prefers to just do her own thing, but she is not aggressive. She would rather run than fight.

“She hasn’t sprayed in the two years I have owned her but she has the potential if cornered. She will give plenty of warning by stomping and showing her bottom.

“Her favourite foods are any type of bugs, like crickets and mealworms, and she also loves Petit Filous-type yogurts.

“I’m hoping some publicity will help bring her home.”

The driver who filmed the animal told the Telegraph: “I was on my way home at around 11.45pm and as I was driving down Wyken Croft I noticed what I thought was a cat walking along the pavement but when I looked again I realised it was a skunk!

“So I stopped my car and reversed back to take some photos because I thought no one would believe me if I told them.

“The area is always full of wild animals, I often have foxes and hedgehogs in my back garden, but I’ve definitely never seen a skunk before!”

Shandy was last seen in Browns Lane, Allesley, this morning at 3am.

How on earth did it get from Wyken Croft to Brown's Lane without being spotted?

Must of crossed all the zebra crossings its called camouflage

'I had lost all hope' - pet skunk back home six months after going missing

A pet skunk that caused a stink when she disappeared from her home in Henley Green has been reunited with her owner - six months on.

Shandy the skunk went missing in October but has turned up just down the road from where she went missing.

Her owner Rebecca was running out of hope she would ever find her again, and even got rid of Shandy’s cage.

Rebecca said: “We had heard literally nothing of her until about three or four weeks ago when someone messaged me on Facebook to say Shandy had been seen hiding in her dad’s garden just down the road from where she was last seen.

“I was so shocked when I got the message, I had lost all hope of getting her back and I sold her cage.

“Someone had found that she had been staying just down the road.

“We couldn’t find her because we were looking in all the grassy areas, but she was hiding in a more built-up part of Henley Green.”

Rebecca got Shandy in September 2013 when she was only about six months old, but thought she had lost her beloved pet forever when she went missing two years later.

She said: “I really didn’t think I was going to get her back. When I heard it was really her I was so shocked.

“She is a little sneaky one, but we are so glad to have her back.

“It’s actually quite strange to have her back in the house, it still feels surreal that she’s returned. It’s like I need to remember that I have got her back.”

Rebecca certainly won’t be letting Shandy out of her sight again. She has now got a four foot hutch and a new lock to make sure it won’t come open again, and in time she will extend the run so Shandy can go running a bit closer to home.