Why shoot porcupines?

[gertjie87]

Interesting (building forth on hijack). I considered buying a hedgehog last year and the owner told me it feeds on carrion and he gave it roadkill. Apparently he got that advice from a pet store or something. Eh.

That is really bad advice the hedgehog that you would have considered would have been a the domesticated crossbreed between an aftican pigmy and an egyptian long eared the do really well on a kitten food diet supplemented with insects eventhough they would eat carrion that is a bad idea as you risk infection from parasites and bacterial infections not to mention pesticides and poisons

[Toxxyc]

That is really bad advice the hedgehog that you would have considered would have been a the domesticated crossbreed between an aftican pigmy and an egyptian long eared the do really well on a kitten food diet supplemented with insects eventhough they would eat carrion that is a bad idea as you risk infection from parasites and bacterial infections not to mention pesticides and poisons

Thought the same. The carrion/roadkill thing actually put me off the hedgehog idea (was a pygmy hedgehog). If I'd known better by then I would have gone further with the idea. Damn. And they were cheap as well.

[neilh]

Apparently he got that advice from a pet store or something. Eh.

There's your problem. Just like most pet stores say that tropical fish only get as big as the tank you home it in. Till there's a massive Oscar or Arowana in a tiny 1 foot tank

[A-R]

Interesting (building forth on hijack). I considered buying a hedgehog last year and the owner told me it feeds on carrion and he gave it roadkill. Apparently he got that advice from a pet store or something. Eh.

The indigenous hedgehog is protected in all provinces AFAIK and you are not allowed to keep it captive. The pet store variety are something totally different.

I have seen a pair of porcupines walking home in broad daylight (10 AM) in a nature reserve (bordering KNP) that hosts lion and leopard. They did not seem the least bothered.

You would not easily see a porky on farmland, nevermind in daylight. They know their place in the food chain and apply evasive tactics. When crops are planted, the wildlife goes out. There are very very few examples of wildlife co-existing peacefully with any form of agriculture. The porcupine is definitely regarded as a destructive pest and has no legal protection in any province that I know of. You are even allowed to hunt them with artificial light and after dark, without any sort of permit. Their survival as a species is not regarded as threatened. To the contrary, they are regarded as destructive pests. They have the ability to survive and thrive in heavily cultivated areas, and even in cities, if not controlled.

[MJC]

In the maize fields I hunt pigs in I have witnessed many a porcupine devouring the farmers maize. They are most definitely a nuisance.