Skunks really are deceptively adorable. There's a family of them that hang around the area between my home and the gas station I sometimes walk to at night, and I've caught them out there crossing the street and thought "Aww, how cu- ohfuuuuck walking back home, walking back home, runningbackhome"
I used to work with somebody who says she kept a de-glanded (not sure what the term is) skunk as a kid, and apparently they make good pets and allegedly have "fat ferret energy". But apparently they still stink even without their gland.
Yes, they can't spray you with the stink, but it's still coming from them. I love skunks, their intelligence, their playfulness, their sociability, but nevertheless would not like to own one or ever come anything close to a wild one because I react strongly to smells.
A coworker of mine got skunked last fall. He hatched this whole revenge plan to trap it and then shoot it on halloween night, when the shot would be mistaken for a firecracker. The skunk must have caught wind because he skipped town.