by Mia Patterson | Photo by Henry Moore, Jr.
One Friday in early June the Washington State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital was visited by a rather prickly patient.
Having suffered from what was speculated to be a fall from a tree, the young male porcupine was brought in by Ryan Law of the Palouse Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation. He had significant deep bruising, and because of the injury, pieces of dead tissue led to substantial issues with his legs.
“He was lucky in that he didn’t suffer any broken bones” said Dr. Marcie Logsdon, WSU wildlife veterinarian. “But the injury to his leg resulted in an infected abscess that we had to clean out multiple times under anesthesia.”
Dr. Logsdon says it’s not uncommon for injuries such as this to take considerable time to heal.
“Now that he is stable, we transferred him back to the Palouse Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation team for the rest of his recovery,” Dr. Logsdon said. “He still has some difficulty walking but is showing improvement every day.”
The porcupine, who Law refers to as “Roger Banister” will need to regrow the quills over his injured area before he can be released back into the wild but full rehabilitation and release is the goal.
“The work I do as a rehabber would not be possible without the expertise and continued support of the WSU veterinary hospital exotic ward,” Law said. “They are working around the clock to make sure that wildlife, like this porcupine, are able to receive the proper medical attention they need in order to survive and for that I am forever deeply grateful.”