The move has stirred up controversy in this picturesque city, and state Environmental Police are investigating whether killing the skunks violates the law.

Last week, the Newburyport Waterfront Trust, a four-member board that oversees a 4.4-acre public park along the Merrimack River in the center of the historic downtown, voted unanimously to pay a private animal control agent $75 for each skunk he trapped and killed. Four skunks were soon taken.

NEWBURYPORT — Something stinks on the Newburyport waterfront. Some say it’s the skunks. Others say it’s the trustees who put a bounty on their head.

At issue is the question of why the skunks needed to be killed. According to the city’s animal control and Waterfront Trust officials, skunks have not posed a problem to humans or dogs that use Waterfront Promenade Park.


Reached by telephone, Joseph H. Brown, the trustee who advocated for the extermination, said the decision was a preventive action to control the skunk population to protect the people and dogs frequenting the park. That said, he abruptly hung up.

Edith Heyck, who manages the park for the trustees, described the skunk killings as “routine wildlife management.”

Killing wildlife to control the population is illegal under state law except during hunting seasons, according to Marion Larson, chief of information and education for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. Trapping season for skunks begins Nov. 1.

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The law makes an exception when wildlife is causing property damage. The Waterfront Trust did not list damage as the reason they took action against the skunks, but as Heyck gave a Globe reporter a tour of the property, she identified holes in the flower bed that she said were dug by skunks looking for grubs. That could qualify as damage under the state statute, according to Larson, and make it legal to remove the skunks, which includes the option of euthanasia.


State law also prohibits moving wildlife from a property, though it allows relocating animals to another location on the same property.

Heyck said that is not an effective option in the park, which consists of a large lawn that is a popular site for festivals and concerts, and a boardwalk along the river.

The four skunks trapped this week were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning, according to Heyck. The contractor hired by the Waterfront Trust, Jack Card of Nuisance Wildlife Solutions in Newburyport, did not respond to a phone message from the Globe.

Doug Locy, chairman of the Waterfront Trust, said he was told that there was no other choice but to exterminate the skunks — “it was a three-minute conversation during a three-hour board meeting” — and added that Brown was the person to speak with.

Mayor Donna D. Holaday, who appoints the members of the trust, did not respond to an inquiry from the Globe.

Robert F. Bracey, director of public health in Newburyport who oversees animal control, said the department has not received any complaints about skunks in the waterfront park, and he wasn’t aware of any issues with animals that were dangerous or ill. He could not recall the last time Newburyport had a rabid skunk.

Heyck said the skunks had been feeding from a dumpster on the property that belongs to Not Your Average Joe’s, a nearby restaurant. All four skunks were trapped next to the dumpster, she said.


Heyck, an artist and muralist by training who is in her first year as the part-time park manager, said she is an animal lover and that she allowed for the trapping of four skunks “and then I said that was enough.” If there are any skunks left over, she said they are welcome to stay, but said the culling was necessary because there was an overpopulation, “and when you have an overpopulation you get rabies.”

She said the evidence of that overpopulation was the fact that she had recently seen one during the day. It is the only skunk she has actually seen on the property.

Laura Hajduk-Conlee, a project leader for the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, said it is not rare to see a skunk during the day. “Just because they’re out during the day doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with them and doesn’t reflect the status of the population.”

State wildlife officials said they do not track skunk populations, but it’s natural for a particular species to go through spikes and dips in a particular community. Bracey, who oversees animal control in the city, said there seemed to be such an uptick happening in Newburyport.

Conlee said that if the Waterfront Trust had contacted the state about problems with wildlife damage before killing the animals, officials would have had a detailed conversation about other options, with removal of the animals being just one of them.

“Sometimes, keeping the dumpster closed and the trash picked up is easy enough,” she said.


Larson added that skunks don’t spray just because they see a person, and that they can usually live in harmony alongside humans without incident. “They live in Newburyport,” she said. “People are all over the place. That’s some of the insight that we might try to offer.”

On Tuesday in the park, Dale Eckert was walking his dog, as he does often, and said the problem was not the skunks, but the people who improperly dispose of trash. “They don’t bother you if you don’t bother them,” he said of the skunks, adding that he has never actually seen one in the park.

More from today's paper Adriana Duesel, another frequent dog walker in the park, also said she had never seen a skunk in Waterfront Promenade Park. “But I don’t think I’d care if I did,” she said. “You turn and go the other way. And as long as dogs are on the leash, like they’re supposed to be, they won’t chase them and get sprayed, so I’m not sure what the big deal is. I don’t think killing anything is the answer.”

Billy Baker can be reached at billy.baker@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @billy_baker.