There are few smells as distinguishable as the one left by a culprit the size of a cat, and Ann Arbor residents smell it more often than most. The city has a skunk problem but it is not alone.

"It"s the same problem all over," said Diane Stanley, office manager of Ann Arbor"s Critter Control animal removal service. "Wherever (people) are doing building."

Stanley said campus development has caused more problems than simply removing sources of food and shelter for the animals.

"If you take a look around, they are tearing down every field, wood, area, all around Ann Arbor. It"s a domino effect," she said. "There"s no place for them to go. They become adaptable to living in the city."

Stanley said the number of complaints the company receives about skunks is comparable only to raccoons.

Some students aren"t so keen about wildlife going suburban.

LSA junior Ryan Mason said there had been so many skunks making a living in his residence this summer that at one point his housemates and neighbors tried scaring one away.

His neighbor, Engineering junior Justin Bowler, testified that he"s had run-ins with two of the neighborhood skunks. "I threw a stick at (one). Somehow I hit it," he said, adding that it was an accident. "I don"t know how I hit it, it was insane."

Bowler said a second skunk was buried in the sidewalk when construction workers repaired Packard Street this summer.

"We had a lot of skunks that just happened to love our house, I"m not really sure why," said Mason. "I think a skunk actually lived in our house at one point. Every now and then you"d just walk downstairs and it would just smell like skunk. It was awful."

Stanley said skunks aren"t smelly animals and only spray as a defense mechanism. She added that they ordinarily aren"t dangerous or harmful.

According to information published by S.K.U.N.K.S., an organization specializing in the rescue, release and rehabilitation of skunks, when a skunk does release its spray, the victim can use distilled vinegar followed by Dawn brand dish soap to treat the sprayed area. Clothes can be cleaned by soaking in vinegar, followed by dish soap and laundry detergent, then air drying in the sun.

To avoid the problem all together, the organization recommends removing or protecting any food sources, including bird seed and garbage.

For students who already have skunk problems, Stanley said animal removal services will remove skunks from a student"s property for a fee.

"We relocate them to private properties where we have permission to relocate them," she said. "There are still people within the county that have large amounts of land, and they like wildlife."