Photos of Skunk Owners Showing Off Their Quirky Choice of Pet at Skunk Fest

Behold the work of South Carolina-based photographer Vincent J Musi and one of the most unusual photo sets you’re likely to run across today. As part of an April cover story for National Geographic on “exotic” pet owners, Musi went out and photographed the owners of an animal most of us wouldn’t dare bringing into our homes: skunks.

Each year, skunk owners gather for Skunk Fest in Ohio so that they can talk to the only other people on earth who understand their choice of pet, and Musi was there to capture portraits of these owners in an on-location studio

The resulting images range from somewhat cute to downright weird… in a good way of course:

Speaking with National Geographic, Musi explained that there is no “typical” skunk owner just like there’s no “typical” dog owner:

The idea was to photograph the same kind of animal and show the diversity of ownership. What does an exotic pet owner look like? As you can see, they are as diverse as the animals they love. Their relationship no different than one might hope to have with a dog or cat.

To find out more about the series be sure to check out the full write up on the PROOF blog or pick up a copy of April’s National Geographic. And if you’d like to browse Musi’s non-skunk related work, you can do so by heading over to his website here.

(via Laughing Squid)

Image Credits: Photographs by Vincent J Musi and used with permission