Lucky porcupine gets care after fire

A porcupine that survived the largest of the wildfires in the state, has been recuperating in the care of its human neighbor.

Riley Wisdom was driving Sept. 10 on the road leading to her home, along with her boyfriend and mother, when they saw the porcupine they had named Porky huddled by a tree in an area scorched in the recent Pearl Hill Fire which had burned nearly 234,000 acres, including right up to their home located about 30 minutes from Mansfield.

"She has lived on our road for several years," Wisdom said about Porky in a Facebook post. "We have watched her raise her babies."

They wrapped Porky in a quilt and brought her home, where they have rehabilitated many animals before, including dogs, horses, kittens, birds, and "anything you can think of," Wisdom told The Star on the phone Monday.

Because of this experience, Wisdom, 20, already had supplies on hand, including pain medicine, antibiotics, and ointment.

Porky was covered in ash, and her injuries included a bad paw, burns on her face and eyelids. And her quills had burned off, which turned out to be a little bit of a blessing in disguise as it allowed Wisdom to treat her more easily. The quills are growing back quickly. 

Treating her "is not as bad as I thought," Wisdom said. "I thought she'd be more aggressive."

Wisdom said she has not handled her prickly patient at all, "except to apply medicine. ..."She is still wild, puts her quills up and everything."

Porky is living in a horse trailer where Wisdom brought in wood and sticks "to remind her of outside." Porky has been eating vegetables, including apples, pears, greens, broccoli and more, and drinking Pedialyte and electrolyte water.

After she has healed more, Porky will be released at a nearby creek where there is some marshland, an area with unburned trees that has become something of a wildlife refuge because of the recent fires driving animals there, Wisdom said.

A Sept. 14 update on Wisdom's Facebook page said that Porky was behaving more wildly, biting and clawing and hitting Wisdom with her tail, good behavior for a wild animal, Wisdom says. "This is the behavior I want," the post says. "I think our girl will be good to go sooner than anticipated."

Wisdom also states she saw "Mr. Porky" walking down the road looking for his missus, and Wisdom is looking forward to them reuniting.

Wisdom has applied to veterinary school at Washington State University and hopes to combine that with more wildlife rehabilitation, for which she is getting a permit. 

Her story with Porky has been shared online and by news outlets doing stories on her. 

"I'm surprised at the amount of support we've had for her. I shared her in hopes family and friends would pray and send healing energy," Wisdom said, adding that she's received comments from people all over the country.