After a few hundred emails and online votes, the Wildlands Conservancy chose a winning name for its new skunk.
I wrote about this naming contest a couple of weeks ago, not long after the conservancy acquired a new skunk to replace its beloved old skunk, Stinky, who died of cancer last year.
The new skunk — de-scented, of course — is a cute little guy. Rather than name him Stinky Jr. or Stinky II or Son of Stinky, the conservancy invited suggestions from the general public.
"We got Blossoms and Flowers — a lot of those," conservancy spokeswoman Megan Sciarrino said.
Perhaps that was inevitable. Skunks smell bad, flowers smell good. People like irony. But the conservancy wanted something a little more distinctive.
Among many other suggestions: Beaufort, Binky, Candle, Casey, Carlos, Heavy, Pepe, Pierre, Putrid, Rosebud and Scarf.
My own suggestion — never submitted because of the ethical constraints of journalism — was Roquefort.
After some debate among staff, the field was culled to nine: Cruiser, Wisp, Chase, Dash, Sniper, Stinky Too, Captain Murray, Rascal and Smudge.
Sciarrino, with an eye on marketing possibilities, favored Captain Murray, a name derived from the chemical compound that gives a skunk's spray its appalling odor: mercaptan.
I liked it, too. Mercaptan. Captain Murray. It reminds me of how the Lehigh Valley IronPigs baseball team got its name — by flipping around pig iron, the basis of steel.
I liked the other finalists, too. Sniper suggests the skunk's terrific aim over long distances. Wisp evokes pleasant breezes. Cruiser? Well, skunks cruise all night in search of food.
In the end, the top three vote-getters on Facebook were Captain Murray, Rascal and Smudge.
And the winner, in a tight race: Smudge, suggested by Holly Fake of Portland.
"When I saw his picture it was the first thing that popped into my mind because of the white marking on his head," said Fake, who not only won the contest but also got to visit Smudge at the conservancy on Monday and even hold him — to the extent that a baby skunk can be held.
"He tried to crawl inside my shirt at one point," Fake told me.
That sounds more like a rascal than a smudge, but never mind.
Fake's husband, Brian, and nieces, Alexa Scheirer, 7, and Sierra Scheirer, 4, came along on the visit and were quite taken with Smudge.
"The girls were both very excited to meet Smudge and thought it was pretty cool that their aunt thought of his name," Fake said. "I wanted to share the day with these two girls because I want to instill in them the importance of preserving our natural surroundings, and of becoming stewards of the environment and the wild animals that live there."
Alexa asked if Fake got to take the skunk home, and was a little disappointed to learn he had to stay.
But that just gives everyone another reason to visit the conservancy, which happens to be one of Fake's favorite destinations.
She doesn't get there as often as she used to — Portland is quite a bit farther than her former home in Bethlehem — but now she'll have bragging rights as the woman who named Smudge.
"He's a cutie," Fake said.
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