Comment on African porcupine eluded capture on Spanaway streets for over a year

TACOMA — She roamed the streets of Spanaway for more than a year, living alone and avoiding capture. At some point, she was shot in the jaw with an air gun pellet. But now Porky, a rare African porcupine, has been captured and given a temporary home at the Oregon Zoo in Portland. “We were very surprised to learn that an African porcupine was wandering around a neighborhood in Washington,” said Becca Van Beek, who oversees the zoo’s African area. Spanaway residents first noticed Porky in March 2017. She eluded capture for months, but a wildlife rehabilitation facility called A Soft Place to Land finally caught her. An examination turned up what looked to be an air gun pellet lodged in the porcupine’s jaw.