In point of fact, the skunk was "put down," which was to say: killed. According to the skunk capturer, that's mandated by state law.
All other things being equal, I'd rather have seen the critter turned loose far from Homo sapiens; realistically speaking, however, although I feel badly for the critter, it's my house, and I don't feel obliged to put up with its smell.
As long as I've to scoop the cat's litter box daily, I've been tossing the feline byproducts under the deck in the hope other critters will figure there's a predator in the vicinity, and will look into other repellants.