(credit: Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – As spring approaches in Texas, the minds of young skunks turn to thoughts of love, which can have deadly consequences for the amorous varmints.

Ironically, the beginning of skunk breeding season in Texas is close to Valentines Day. But instead of the comic cavorting’s of Pepé le Pew, the results are often closer to “My Bloody Valentine.”

According to Angelo State University biology professor Robert Dowler, 35-percent of skunk road kills happen in February, with a ratio of three males to every female.

“A male sets up a home range so that he can maximize the number of females it comes in contact with,” Dowler said. “So, they’re definitely not monogamist but suggests that they would be moving more often and that means that they would encounter highways and roads more often; meaning they get hit more.”

While Texas is home to all five North American skunk species, but the hooded skunk is the most prevalent.

Just a footnote, if you always heard that a skunk can only spray once, you heard wrong. Skunks can release five or six shots of musk from each gland. The best advice? Don’t bother a skunk and chances are they won’t bother you.

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