Winnipeg school pays homage to skunk that forced relocation

One Winnipeg elementary school is making the most out of a smelly situation.

Last week, students and staff members at Stevenson-Britannia School were forced to leave their classrooms due to a smell left behind from a skunk that made its way into the school’s crawl space.

“It took a few days, but finally they caught a skunk,” said Jane Couch, the school’s principal.

“That’s all we know of it at this point, that all of this fuss was caused just because of one skunk.”

Though the smell had students leaving the premises last week, now they’re celebrating it.

“The first day [of the smell] was not that bad, but the second day, I just couldn’t stand the smell. It was really bad,” said Grade 3 student Harsehajdeep Hehar.

Monday marked the start of spirit week at Stevenson-Britannia School and it kicked off with Skunk Celebration Day.

As an homage to the critters, students wore black and white -- the colours of a skunk.

They also named the skunk that started all this chaos, calling her Sardinia. The name pays tribute to sardines, which were used as bait to catch her.

“All of us decided at the end of last week that we had to have a skunk celebration day in honour of this skunk that turned our lives around for a week,” Couch said.

“They’re a small, but powerful animal.”

Sardinia’s legacy at the school may now continue. Currently, the school’s mascot is a sabre-toothed tiger. However, Couch said that the ‘Stevenson Skunks’ has a nice ring to it, so that change could be coming.

“The kids said we need to have a Treaty 1 animal, that was what was most important to them, and a skunk is a Treaty 1 animal,” she said.