Orphaned Porcupette Survives Accident That Took Mother’s Life

A nearly newborn porcupine was rescued by the side of the road this weekend after its mother was struck and killed by a motorist.

Now this porcupette (yes, that's totally what the babies are called) is being cared for on the Cape for the summer.

The New England Wildlife Center was contacted about a porcupine struck and killed by a car. The porcupine had a baby in her care. Although the mom did not make it, staff rushed the porcupette to the Cape Wildlife Center for care and determined that it was completely unharmed. Good news for sure.

However, according to staff at the center, a baby porcupine needs to be with their mother for the first five months of life. Sadly, this little guy was not old enough to be without his mom yet and will have to remain at the Cape veterinary clinic for some time.

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The clinic shared his photo and story on Facebook with a few commenting that he looked saddened by his loss. He is certainly cute, but not exactly cuddly. Staff say he will be treated with "a slightly more hands-off approach" than some of their other animal rescues.

Those hands are good hands, however. The facility on the Cape is a full-service vet clinic dedicated to the treatment, rehabilitation and release of injured, sick or orphaned wildlife and is definitely giving this little guy everything he needs to get back out into the wild on his own as soon as possible.

Where he is released remains to be seen. In Massachusetts, porcupines typically live in the western and central parts of the state, with sightings as far as Cape Cod only happening within the last 10 to 12 years.

Porcupines are nocturnal creatures, so that makes sightings rare, too. It also makes them more susceptible to car strikes, since it would be difficult to see the brown-and-black-colored, low-to-the-ground creatures in the dark.

Luckily this little porcupette survived, but we should all be more aware of the variety of animals that could be crossing the local roadways after nightfall.