Porcupines Nuisance To Minnesota Dogs + Property How To Remove + Relocate

Between my kids and I, our family has 8 dogs. When we see a porcupine, panic sets in very quickly. I've plucked quills out of the faces of 6 different dogs, and I pray there will never be a 7th.

When there is a porcupine sighting, it's usually way up at the tippy top of the many stands of pine trees on our property. Porcu"pines" love pine trees, as you might note from their name. If our dogs spot a porcupine before we do, it's a struggle to get them to back off. We jump into action as quickly as possible because once one of the dogs gets close enough, our problems multiply. Porcupine quills are horrible when they're attached to a different animal!

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Put your dogs inside, and, armed with heavy leather work gloves, it's time to rescue and relocate the porcupine. It's tricky, but very doable. If the critter is in a tree, we climb it whenever possible and manipulate it into climbing back down the tree. This is where teamwork comes in handy; at the bottom of the tree. 

After you grab your gloves, have a cage ready- preferably one with plenty of breathing holes in it. (Our goal is not to harm the animal but to keep it from causing harm to our dogs.) Once the porcupine is on the ground, you can corral it onto the cage rather easily.

Open your cage or box and have your helper guide it in. It's helpful to have a long piece of wood to guide the animal. We've found that a boat oar works best! Be sure to be gentle! Porcupines are surprisingly docile, relatively slow, and painfully shy creatures. They want to get away from you just as badly as you want them gone. After getting the porcupine into your cage of choice, close it up quickly. Now, it's time to relocate.

Relocation is the easy part. Drive the porcupine at least 10 miles away, to a natural environment similar to the one from which you removed it. Keep the animal away from any farming land. Porcupines can do major damage to crops and trees that surround the land.

Not only are they a nuisance to our dogs, but porcupines feed on the bark of certain trees. Eventually, these trees die. Relocation is best for everyone involved; especially our dogs!

Photo by Laurie Snell on Unsplash