Porcupine
I hate to do two articles on small, non-game mammals in a row, so I won’t; this week’s topic is the Wiley porcupine. They are a game species as well as a small mammal. Specifically, they are a game rodent, the third largest rodent on earth. Although beavers aren’t proud of it, they are the largest rodent.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission generated a lot of controversy when they lifted regulations on killing porcupines to help landowners alleviate damage within the “porky’s” range. I felt that perhaps the controversy was more about whether or not a critter that is more than happy to eat aluminum and treated wood for a salad could die, but actually, that wasn’t the controversy at all.