Our plot of land is frequented by several nocturnal visitors, luckily of the four-legged variety. We have no option but to offer them hospitality as not even a scarecrow would frighten them. A few months ago we purchased a motion-sensitive night camera which can take both pictures and movies. We tied the apparatus onto a post holding up our washing line and eagerly awaited to view the results the following morning.

The filming showed that there was a preponderance of boars and foxes in our field, usually around three or four and largely appearing between 1 and 4 am.
Less frequent were deer. Rarest of all were pine-martens. I would gladly love to see more of these two species in our territory as they are rather prettier to look at than wild hogs and, most importantly, cause far less damage to the area.

Boars, in their search for roots and bulbs, can dig up the area as effectively as any mechanical excavator and, apart from shooting the damn things – an activity best left to the local hunters during the season which runs from early autumn to late spring – the best solution is to fence the whole area in.

With the advent of winter we have noticed far fewer boars around. Maybe hunters have become ever more efficient in shooting their quarry. However, damage to our field has continued, albeit on a different scale. This time we’ve noticed large holes dug into the grounds which are wonderful ways for getting tripped up in. We decided to investigate and to our shock horror found that the digging was not done by a wild pig variety but by the largest rodent of them all and the one covered by animal armour of the most lethal kind. Yes, the Italian quill-crested porcupine up to a metre in length and weighing around fifteen kilos.

There it was, usually in a band with two or three others, furtively digging up bulbs and roots round our fruit trees. Our night-films showed this activity to a tee. What to do? And why did the ‘istrice’ or ‘porcospino’ as the animal is called in Italy suddenly appear now after having kept a low profile before?

There are three solutions to avoid having our land turned into a pock-marked natural battlefield. First is clearly to fence in the affected area making sure that the barrier goes some distance underground as well. Second is to have a ferocious mastiff scouting the area. Third, if one can’t beat them, then join them! Surprisingly porcupines can make good pets! Imagine the wondrous looks one could gather from passers-by as one takes little Quilly Queen for a walk in the public gardens.

Zoologically there are two main species of porcupine: Old world and New world. The Old World porcupines belong to the family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines belong to the family Erethizontidae. They are not closely related but both have found themselves useful to the human populations which surround them. The New World porcupines have provided decorative quills for American Indian headdresses and ritual clothing. They have not provided food, however, as their meat has been described as revoltingly malodorous and evil-tasting. The Old-world porcupines do not, as a general rule, provide an ingredient for an Italian pasta Ragu. However, much further east, in Vietnam they can be a tasty item at feasts among mountain peoples.

So there we are. We have become unwillingly befriended by another forest species: the Italian (and also native to sub Saharan Africa) crested ‘istrice’ or ‘porcospino’. What solution shall we use to challenge their increasing predominance over our territory. Or has it always been their territory? At least we won’t have to worry about weapons that are more lethal than those quills (which can become very painful when inserted in one’s skin because of their barbs which resist efforts to extract them.).

However, I don’t think I would like to become the victim of a (backward) charging porcupine with all its many-barbed quills on full alert.

And yet…all animals can teach us important lessons. And the porcupine is no exception. No wonder it has appeared as a totem spirit animal among native American peoples. For porcupines can teach that one can be “hard on the outside and soft on the inside” at the most critical times. Their external armour has an essential purpose: that of weeding out those energies that are negative. Yet their inner world remains open to the touch of a sensitive soul and truest, purest love.