porkypine

The title was supposed to be a play at the animal's name until I read in Wikipedia that the word "porcupine" comes from a Middle French term which loosely translates to "thorny pork". I swear I had no prior knowledge of it and the idea was just based on my observation of the said mammal.

Anyway, as I was having dinner earlier, I briefly saw a TV documentary on porcupines and I was shocked (and appalled) that some people actually consider their meat as a delicacy. Ugh! So mean! How can they do that to those poor cute cuddly creatures?

I mean look at it:


Not that, here:



See them? No? They're there. When we went to Palawan last month and visited the Wildlife Reserve, the porcupines were the most elusive animal among those that we have seen (we weren't able to trek the entire sanctuary as the keepers deem it dangerous for the visitors to walk on the bridges as they were a bit slippery. and the terrain was mostly connected by bridges.). My friends tried everything from making weird "animal" noises, to yelling curses and even throwing stones just to get them out of their shelter. Unfortunately, them porcupines can be as stubborn as the person who was holding the camera that time.

As mentioned in the report porcupines aren't exactly endangered but do we really have to wait until they are at the brink of extinction before we concern ourselves with their welfare? Save the porcupines. Save the world.