Hunters in Pennsylvania Can Bag ... Porcupines?

Game officials declare 7-month season
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Suggested by anothernewsjunkie
Posted Apr 13, 2011 7:37 PM CDT
Pennsylvania Allows Hunters to Kill Porcupines
Steer clear of Pennsylvania, pal.   (Flickr)

Pennsylvania porcupines better watch their backs from September to March. The state game commission this week instituted a hunting season for the prickly creatures, much to the dismay of wildlife biologists who say too little is known about their population, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. One member of the eight-person board says he had gotten complaints about salt-seeking porcupines wandering onto private property and chewing up stuff—and it probably didn't help that one complainant was his brother.

"In the long run, it will benefit the species," says the commission's vice president. But a Queens College expert doesn't get it. "Porcupines are rare and original animals, much like koalas in Australia," he says. "The proposal to kill the animals, with no economic justification, seems short-sighted and in conflict with the goal of protecting our wilderness." (More hunting stories.)

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