By Kim Kee | kimkee@charter.net

As this story swirled around in my head, the first day of hunting season, an eagle flew above me. I thought it would be a good thing to share my perspective with the Porcupine Press Publications and it's readers, as it seems appropriate.

My brother’s a runner. He runs five to seven miles thru woods, trails and old logging roads of the western UP, every morning. He has numerous amazing animal stories. This one occurred the other day. As he was driving to his cabin, along the Escanaba River, he noticed a porcupine drinking water in a puddle on side the road, more than likely satisfying its salt craving. He passed it by, not wanting to disturb it. Usually he scurries them off into the woods. The next day, as he started his run, he saw the same little porcupine. As he got closer, he noticed that it had been smashed with a stone in the head. It was bleeding everywhere and still alive. The stone was bloody and close to its body, human footprints everywhere. To put it out of its misery, he ran home, got his gun and came back to shoot it. Its one good eye just stared at him as the gun clicked.

We all understand the porcupine’s bad reputation. Sometimes they eat cabin wood because of the salt they need. They will actually eat anything humans have touched because of the salt sweat from our bodies and from treated wood and wood glue we use on housing material. They are slow and docile and don’t stand a chance against human predators. Putting out salt blocks or cheap wooden picket fences that they can chew on, distracts them from destroying other things.

We also understand hunters come from all over the Midwest to the Upper Peninsula in the fall to experience the hunt, the beauty of the woods and the comradery of human companionship.

Death is a part of life, as hunters and non-hunters know well and millions of animals give their lives for us to survive and thrive every day.

But this is the concern and the question… why do people take an animals life if they are not going to eat it, or if it isn’t harming them? If someone chooses to do this because of a power trip they are on, then TAKE THE DAMN LIFE. To leave something half alive is brutal and deranged. There’s allot of terrorism going around these days, violence everywhere. Killing this porcupine was just an act of violence, not hunting.

If we are going to stop terrorism in the world we need to stop it in our homes, woods and own country. Respect for all life is what will help us make it through these crazy times. It starts with the porcupine and all creatures of the woods. It will be a good day when every hunter embraces integrity and honors their kill, like we did long ago. That is true manhood or womanhood. Some do, some don’t. I wonder if the ones that don’t would like the same treatment to them. What goes around comes around, it always works that way. -PPP • Marquette, MI

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Porcupine Facts:

Quills

Porcupines' quills or spines take on various forms, depending on the species, but all are modified hairs coated with thick plates of keratin, and they are embedded in the skin musculature. Old World porcupines (Hystricidae) have quills embedded in clusters, whereas in New World porcupines (Erethizontidae) single quills are interspersed with bristles, underfur, and hair.
Quills are released by contact with them, or they may drop out when the porcupine shakes its body, but cannot be projected at attackers, contrary to popular belief. New quills grow to replace lost ones.

Habitat

Porcupines occupy a wide range of habitats in tropical and temperate parts of Asia, Italy, Africa, and North and South America. Porcupines live in forests, deserts, rocky outcrops, hillsides and grasslands. Some new world porcupines live in trees, but old world porcupines stay on the ground. Porcupines can be found on rocky areas up to 3,700 m (12,000 ft) high. Porcupines are nocturnal.

Salt licks


Porcupines in search of salt sometimes encroach on human habitats, eating plywood cured with sodium nitrate, certain paints, and tool handles, footwear, clothes and other items that have been coated in salty sweat. Porcupines are attracted to roads in areas where rock salt is used to melt ice and snow, and are known to gnaw on vehicle tires or wiring coated in road salt. Salt licks placed nearby can prevent porcupines from injuring themselves.
Natural sources of salt consumed by porcupines include varieties of salt-rich plants (such as yellow water lily and aquatic liverwort), fresh animal bones, outer tree bark, mud in salt-rich soils, and objects imbued with urine.

Miscellany

From ancient times it was believed that porcupines can throw their quills at an enemy. This has long been refuted, being the result of loose quills being shaken free.
Porcupines have become a pest in Kenya and are eaten as a delicacy.