Skunks

If there's something I can't stand, it are these false facts about skunks.
So far the movie "Over The Hedge" is the only movie where other creatures were able to stand around a skunk without running away in absolute horror.

In case you're an ignorant idiot: skunks don't reek all the time and only use their "smell" when they are scared.
And even then it's not something they commonly use; when a skunk gets cornered by a possible threat it stomps with its front paws on the ground. If the threat doesn't leave only then it sprays.

Pepe Le Pew and similar characters are not setting a good example, since in most cartoons people seem to smell them from miles away. Unless Pepe Le Pew is scared to shit every second of the day, this is nonsense.

Do you wonder why I should care about any of this? After all, Pepe Le Pew is a terrific character and his cartoons are just as fun.
I care because I used to have skunks myself. And the conclusion people make out of others who keep skunks is that the skunks smell, your house smells and that you smell. People don't know anything about these creatures than that they supposedly have this odour that never leaves, all thanks to the neverending running gag about skunks in cartoons and movies.
It is one of the few television running gags where people actually believe it's true. It's creates a bad name for skunks they don't deserve.