Warning: Slow Moving Porcupines May End Up In Your Tires

Last Tuesday night I was driving to Jen's house in Goldendale and came across a slow moving porcupine in the middle of the road. I saw it at the last minute and, of course, ran over it! The big guy might have already been dead or just trying to make it to the other side of the road & I interrupted his travels.

I screamed, not only because of the loud noise and thumps the collision caused, but I am one of those people who will stop for a chipmunk while they decide which way they'd like to go on the street and which tree is the best. Seeing flat animals makes me sad for the animal's family that's left behind at home. So, hitting a porcupine was one of those sad moments for me.

It was dark when I arrived at Jen's and no way to really check the car out to see if there was any damage. The next morning, Jen and I looked out and there were all these quills sticking out of my two right tires! Of course, we're both wondering if the quills will make the tires go flat. Pulling a few of them out I found out how sharp they are. The quills have barbs on them and were quite stuck into the rubber! I ended up pulling most of them out, but left a few of the "evidence" in place to show David when I got home.

On leaving Goldendale, I looked for signs of the porcupine and there was nothing on the road where the incident had occured. I wonder if the big guy walked off, saying "ha, can't hurt me...take that!" or if another animal had come along and scooped him off the road as a late evening snack.

I have the pulled out quills in a safe place (a baby food jar) to share with kids. I wish I had the full quills so I could use it when I read the book "Prickles"....a sweet book about a porcupine that doesn't have any friends because he's grumpy! But I wasn't about to stop and ask the prickly guy if I could have some of his quills for a teaching project. Life in the fast lane....not so fast when you're a porcupine!