Man vs. Nature Conflict Stirs on Grown Ups 2 Set

The cast and crew of Grown Ups 2 are eating well on the set in Swampscott.

Late at night local skunks have been looking to eat well, too, said Swampscott Animal Control Officer Diane Treadwell.

She even saw one walking away with a napkin during a search for a late night snack earlier this week. 

The central conflict in the Adam Sandler comedy appears to be the man vs man variety, with fraternity brothers and others butting heads.

Meanwhile, back at Grown Ups 2 central, the sound stage at , another type of conflict has brewed — man vs. animal.

The latest chapter in the age-old conflict stirred Sunday night when movie set workers frantically called for Swampscott's animal control officer after a skunk sighting under the huge sound stage tent.

Diane Treadwell arrived with traps, the kind that do not hurt animals, and set them under the sound stage.

She went home and then got a call about 1:30 am Monday.

This time the skunk was on the actual movie set. And Monday morning was a big day for filming. It was the beginning of the wild party scene filming with lots of extras and all the stars.

"They were concerned that the skunk would spray where actors will (be)," she said.

The officer returned and moved the traps to the set.

She grabbed a flashlight after she heard movie set workers holler that they were seeing the skunk — again and again.

Turned out there was more than one. She was finding the nocturnal animals all over the place. Four all together.

They were likely attracted by food or the nice lawn on the set, the officer said. After a rain, skunks like to dig in grass for grubs.

At 6:30 am one of the skunks was trapped. The animal was covered with a blanket and did not spray.

The animals live nearby in the wetlands, sleeping during the day in tree hollows, burrows and little dens.

They are scavengers and come at night looking for food.

A fellow officer was called to the set on Tuesday to trap wayward skunks, according to a report in the Boston Herald.

There were also problems earlier, in May, only this time for a family of mallard ducks.

After the sound stage was built it threw them into disarray one day during a rain storm.

The mother mallard was freaking out, running up and down Bondelevitch Way and quacking with three ducklings who were about three days old, Treadwell said. The babies were chirping, and, later, screaming when separated from their mother.

They were probably born in the marsh that abuts the sound stage.

The ducklings were so small they could not climb over the curb.

The officer corralled the ducklings into a trap, and the mother, and relocated them to a pond in Marblehead.