Shyness is a common, but often a difficult obstacle to overcome for children.

But for one eight-year-old girl, from Marden, the solution was heaven scent – in the form of a pet skunk.

Harriet Cooper's mother Maria, who runs a travelling petting zoo, took in the unwanted creature from a Welsh farm last year.

Within months, she said Humbug had cured Harriet of her social anxiety.

Maria, 30, said: "At one point we thought we might have to get rid of Humbug because he started to show some aggression towards me and my other half.

"As this was going on the only person who could hold him and pick him up was Harriet.

"Very quickly it appeared that Harriet has developed a magic touch.

"Their relationship got stronger and stronger and she became more and more confident.

"She was just shy like many kids, and was very quiet, but she's a completely different person now.

"I think it has something to do with her seeing she can do something I can't do with Humbug. Even though I am a professional, I see myself as a beginner with him, whereas Harriet is an expert."

Harriet said the animal, who eats cat food and likes cheese as a treat, is her best friend. She feeds and cleans him and lets him sleep in a cage in her room.

The St Margaret's Collier Street School pupil has even managed to get out of household chores.

"Humbug is very protective of Harriet so it is difficult when I have to tell her off or ask her to tidy her room," said Maria.

"She gets out of doing things, and you have to be really careful not to sound angry with her or Humbug punishes us."

Skunks are rising in popularity as pets, with an estimated 2,000 being kept in the UK.

Humbug is just one of the unusual creatures living at the family's home in Green Lane.

Maria has a menagerie of more than 20 pets, including Dinky the house-trained pot-bellied pig, Gordon the gopher snake and Martha the raccoon dog, who raises eyebrows when she is taken out for walks on a lead.

She also keeps tarantulas, bearded dragons, sugar gliders, scorpions, frogs, tortoises, cats and farm animals.

They are taken into schools, nursing homes, and petting corners at shows and fetes.

But Maria's partner Ian Harle is not so keen – he has pet allergies.

She added: "He gets through a bottle of Piriton and a box of Kleenex every day."

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