From the December 21, 1921 New York Times:

“Middletown, N.Y.–Wade Willis, a lad living at Montgomery, this county, has been deprived of his unusual pet, a skunk, and is sorrowful. Some time ago he discovered a young skunk in a cemetery near his home and brought the animal home in his arms.

His parents protested, but that made no difference to Wade, and for weeks the animal has accompanied him about the village, led by a string and petted by the boy as if it were a dog. The parents at last sold the skunk to a fur dealer. The boy is almost inconsolable.”