First of all, No – this isn’t a metaphor. There really *is* a porcupine in the bush.

Sometime around midnite last nite/this morning, a porcupine found its way into our cul-de-sac, injured from an encounter with a coyote (or a car), and plopped down on the street in front of our house. A neighbor from the adjacent cul-de-sac told me she saw the porcupine in that spot around midnite, and when she approached it to get a better look, it puffed itself (making the quills stand tall & ready for defense), and hissed at her. It then slowly waddled off… into our front yard, finding refuge in the low-to-the-ground juniper bushes next to the house.

It apparently stayed there the rest of the night, because at 8am my son rushed up to me saying “…you have to come see this RIGHT NOW. There’s a big animal that looks like a porcupine in the front yard.”

And he was right. The injury wasn’t obvious at first, but as he (she?) began to move a bit, it became gruesomely apparent that its left rear leg had suffered a severe gash that had exposed underlying muscle tissue. The leg itself may have been rendered completely useless as a result.

At the spot on the cul-de-sac where the neighbor saw it lay, there are two large urine stains and a small blood stain. This animal was clearly frightened, either by the initial attack (which I find hard to believe occured in our cul-de-sac because we didn’t hear anything), or by the approach of the woman. There literally is truth to the old saying “…scared the piss out of me”.

Several calls to the Division of Wildlife, the Sheriff and (yes) a local pest control service has us no closer to being “porcupine-less” than we were at 8am. We’re now taking a wait and see approach; if the little bugger is still there (and still alive) in the morning, we’ll take more aggressive remedial action.

But for now – we’re letting him hang out, with the hope (perhaps unrealistic) that when nightfall rolls around, his nocturnal instincts will kick in and he’ll saunter off.

EDIT:  As I suspected would happen, the porcupine has died.   A closer inspection revealed the severity of his injuries; I’m happy for him that he is no longer suffering.

Tags: porcupine, wildlife, denver

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