The Poor Porcupine Scott Borthwick- Canaan, NH
T
he poor porcupine seems to be one of the most unwanted creatures we have to deal with. Skunks at least are cute until things go badly. Bats eat tens of thousands of mosquitos, snakes and weasels eat mice and fishers will eat porcupines but only if there is nothing else on the menu. But what do porcupines do? I went online to see if there was some underlying value I was not aware of. The first thing that popped up was a recipe for Porcupine Meatballs. Not exactly what I was looking for. There must be some benefit of their existence other than paying off student loans for Veterinarians? My company deals with nuisance animals so let’s take a look at the reasons we get porcupine calls. The first and foremost reason is either my dog got a face full of quills or we saw a porcupine and are afraid our dog will get a face full of quills. Most of my dogs have suffered this fate. In fact, years ago I was bragging to someone that despite living in the woods my dogs had never been quilled or sprayed by a skunk. Within a week they got both. The second reason for calls is the destruction of private property. Porcupines love salt and are known to chew the bottoms of garage doors, leather seats, canoe paddles, etc. We pulled one out of a dirt floor basement once that it had lived in for some time and had converted the dirt floor into a poop floor. You can always tell where porcupines live because of the massive amount of droppings and horrendous smell. The third reason is the destruction of trees. Especially fruit trees. The Quill Pig will climb trees and either eat the tree bark or nip off small branches. Years ago New Hampshire had a bounty for porcupines because of the damage they cause to pine trees. So none of these seem beneficial. Next, let’s look at biology. Porcupines are the second-largest rodent in North America. Second only to the beaver, who also eat tree bark. They can live up to 28 years providing they stay away from roadways. One to three young is born annually. Which reminds me of the old joke “How do porcupines reproduce? Very carefully.” Nothing all that useful here. What have we learned? Well, they are great at tree trimming. Provide needed revenue for Vet Clinics and Nuisance Wildlife Control businesses. Highway workers keep busy scraping them off the road and they teach dogs a valuable lesson. So depending on your perspective they can be a useful part of the ecosystem.
38 4 Legs & a Tail
Scott Borthwick owns Estate Wildlife Control. He lives in Canaan, NH with his wife Donna, two dogs, a couple of horses, and one tough old chicken named Henrietta. Spring 2021
