BROOKHAVEN — It was a cloudy day on January 11 when an almost entirely white skunk wandered along the Bayou Pierre in north Lincoln County. A slender black stripe down the center of its back and some dark pigmentation around its feet kept the skunk from being all white.

Rick Hamrick, small game biologist for MDWFP, said the skunk was a striped skunk. Two skunk species are native to Mississippi. One is the Eastern Spotted Skunk, much smaller and more rare, and the other is a striped skunk.

“They likely have some amount of variation in their pelage between individuals,” Hamrick said about striped skunks.

Here are a few fun facts about skunks

• Skunks can spray up to 15 feet and the odor can be detected over a half-a-mile away
• They are often calm but will spray if they feel threatened
• Hissing, stomping and raising their tail are ways a Skunk warns it will spray
• If you run into a skunk it is best to calmly back away
• Skunks are omnivores

According to the Mississippi State Extension Service, tomato juice does not remove the skunk spray smell. Tomato juice will only mask the musk for a little while.