Earlier this month, care staff at Austin Wildlife Rescue took in a new patient — a young porcupine who’d been found in a daze behind a woman’s home in Texas. Treated for a respiratory infection and mange, the little porcupine was soon back on her feet, making herself feel right at home at the rescue center. And then some.
“She’s now running the facility!” rescuers joked.
But, as it turns out, the porcupine’s management style tends to be a bit on the bossy side.
Facebook/Austin Wildlife Rescue
During a routine cleaning of her living quarters, the little porcupine was briefly put in time-out — a fact that she was none too pleased about. And it showed.
“No matter the species, toddler tantrums are all the same. She was feeling a little prickly about getting her crate cleaned, and so she had to spend a few minutes free roaming our office instead … but that wasn’t to her liking either,” her rescuers wrote, adding:
“So here she is in all her glory … the most dramatic baby porcupine throwing a fit.”
Though she may have been miffed by the disruption to her day, this little porcupine is clearly in good hands.
“This little girl knows she runs the show around here,” Kathryn Mattison, operations manager at Austin Wildlife Rescue, told The Dodo. “As soon as her crate was clean and made available to her again, then she calmed down. Of course, she wasn’t truly interested in her crate at all, but more just wanting to get into mischief.”
Facebook/Austin Wildlife Rescue
This year, Austin Wildlife Rescue estimates that it will take in over 10,000 injured or orphaned animals, with the goal of rehabilitating and releasing them back into the wild. And, with any luck, this tantrum-throwing porcupine will be included among them.
“We have very high hopes for her, and we will continue to care for her for many months while she grows and learns how to be a porcupine,” Mattison said.
Visit Austin Wildlife Rescue’s website to learn more and to find out how you can help.
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