All photos: Diane Edwardson, July 31, 2011, 9:29 AM. I caught sight of a very small young skunk limping on the Red Car Property, toward a fence to a house on Riverside Place. (Click on photos to enlarge.) 
When it heard me and my (on-leash) dog, it turned the business end away from us. Clearly it had been mauled, most likely by a dog. It appeared to be covered in dog saliva. (If you have a big dog, you know know the signs of pupkiss.) The skunk was alert, but not very bright. 
When the skunk turned to go under the fence door, I could see its tail had been most likely bitten off. Although it doesn't read well in the photos, it appeared to be recently broken off and bloody. (Trying to hold a point & shoot steady while keeping my dog from pulling me to the skunk - 20' away - is no easy task.)Red Car Property neighbors say there is a big dog that kills skunks, whose owner walks the dog regularly on the property - off leash. Red Car Canyon could have been called Dead Skunk Canyon in 2010, for the all skunks killed there.
The skunk definitely knew where it was going, and disappeared under the fence. On our way back, we ran into the neighbor who lives at the house on Riverside Place. I alerted her to the injured skunk. She said a neighbor feeds the feral cats across the street so the skunks eat there too.
