Ellicott Wildlife Rehabilitation Center

I heard about a development that is having problems with porcupines. A wildlife rehabber friend of mine and I talked about how, as wildlife rehabilitators, this scenario isn't a big surprise to us when people move into an area that has been habitat for wildlife for years and years. I used to live across Parker Road from Cherry Creek State Park. Living there for almost 15 years I enjoyed seeing deer and various critters literally just outside my door. I enjoyed walking across the street to the Park and viewing diverse indigenous wildlife in an area that provided marshy areas, a large reservoir, and trees as sources of food and habitat for a large variety of wild animals and migratory birds. Shortly before moving here to Ellicott, development began in that area and my phone soon began ringing with people who wanted the wildlife around their new homes gone-NOW! It was so sad for me, that people moved to an area to enjoy Colorado treasures; the water, those trees, and that wildlife, and now wanted the animals gone. Where did they think these animals should go? When the tired and hungry hawk migrates back here in spring from Argentina and the tree it has used for generations has been replaced by a parking lot and new buildings, what do you think happens to the bird? Do you think it slides easily into a new territory of existing hawks and lives happily ever after? Better think again!

Hearing about this community and its porcupine problems made me sad, too; for the people and for the wildlife.

North American porcupines are found throughout the United States and Canada. These nocturnal herbivores eat vegetation, including wood, and sometimes will eat bones to compensate for a calcium and/or phosphorus deficiency in their diet. They enjoy salt, too, so tools left outdoors by people that have sweat on them are something porkies like to chew as well. These mammals are slow-moving and have poor eyesight but an excellent sense of smell. Porcupines have quills on their tail, back, and sides, and the quills normally lie flat until the porky feels threatened. Contrary to popular belief, they can NOT "throw" their quills. The quills are easily detached and can be slapped off of their tail. If your dog comes home full of quills, it's because it got too close to a porcupine and not that it was chased by the porky and had quills thrown at it! This is pretty much the only defense the porcupine has. New quills grow to replace the detached ones. Porcupettes are born with very soft quills that harden up within a few hours.

The solitary porcupine doesn't hibernate, though they spend a considerable amount of time in their dens and in or underneath trees during the winter. In Colorado they can be found in deciduous and coniferous forests, and even here on the plains, denning in culverts and foraging on leaves, buds, yucca, and a variety of plants. The "quilled pig" benefits the environment by eating leaves in the tops of the trees, bringing sunlight to the forest floor and allowing other plants to grow, thus providing food and shelter for other animals. Their foraging can allow fruits, nuts, and branches to fall to the ground, providing a food source for other wildlife. Porcupines help to reseed the forest.

Because of their poor eyesight and slow movement, porcupines usually come to rehab because they have fallen out of trees or gotten hit by a car. Sometimes they come to rehab after an encounter with a predator, typically coyotes and mountain lions. They have a unique fragrance that resembles oranges. Their calm disposition in a rehab setting helps in providing them treatment and care so they can be released back to nature.

During March and April we rehabbers prepare for the calls regarding injured and orphaned porcupines that need to come to rehab. Porcupettes are treated for injuries and raised to properly socialize to porcupines, and then released when mature.

So typical of the big picture of nature and its balance, once the natural predators are removed; once food is made easily available to animals, and once hiding places are provided for them, these animals that are trying to survive in an ever-increasingly disappearing world will do the best they can, even if it's a major problem for us. And these are the "lucky" ones; what do you suppose happens to the wildlife once their habitat is gone, and there's no food and no place to go?

www.ellicottwildlife.com

P.O. Box 75069

Colorado Springs, CO. 80970