Are you allowed to own a pet skunk?

Although best known for the powerful smell they use as a defence mechanism, skunks are still seen as potential pets for some people.

And despite being native to Canada, the United States or Central and South America, one skunk was spotted wandering around Taunton in Somerset recently.

Tropiquaria Zoo near Watchet is now looking after the animal after it was rescued.

But is it possible to keep skunks as pets in the UK - and what do skunk owners need to know?

Evie Batton, senior scientific officer at the RSPCA, said it is not illegal to keep a skunk as a pet in the UK.

"I think that might surprise people," she added, but said choosing one as a pet was "not something the RSPCA would ever advise".

"These are wild animals, they're not domesticated."

Chris Moiser, director of Tropiquaria, added: "They're very popular animals. Most of the skunks as pets in the UK came from the fur trade until they became more desirable as pets."

Moiser said of the skunk rescue: "I drove very carefully with it in the car and everything was fine. Later it sprayed the microchip reader - but fortunately missed our staff."

"One of the main things think about keeping a skunk as a pet is about their smell," Batton said.

"It's part of their natural defense reaction to spray their scents, which is incredibly smelly and really difficult to wash out."

She added that in the UK, it's illegal to remove the animal's scent glands, as this is considered an unnecessary mutilation.

Batton added: "Because skunks aren't native species to the UK, it is illegal to release them to the wild which - unfortunately - some people might do if they feel they can't care for them anymore.

"If people want to keep them as pets they have to be prepared for the smell.

"It's interesting to think about why people might want to keep them as a pet. It could be the novelty factor or it could be that people don't realise how complicated they are to look after.

"They're often fed the wrong diet and they're not given the right amount of exercise. There are [also] very few vets that would be able to treat them if they became ill or injured."

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