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PRINEVILLE, Ore. (KTVZ) — Right now, Oregon Fish and Wildlife’s Ochoco Office in Prineville is asking the public to report any porcupine sightings or encounters<\/a>, as it begins a two-year project to learn more about the elusive mammal’s population, habits, and ecosystem.<\/p>\n The population of these\u00a0large rodents with coats of\u00a0quills has\u00a0dramatically dropped\u00a0over the years, and nobody is quite sure why. <\/p>\n “They’re an unprotected mammal in Oregon right now. So, unfortunately, we don’t have many population metrics on them, and there’s very little known about their life history,” Mikayla Bivona, acting assistant wildlife biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (ODFW) Ochoco District in Prineville told KTVZ News in an interview.<\/p>\n Bivona says the Porcupine Project aims to change that, but first they need your help finding the elusive sharp-spined swimmers, “They are pretty hard to find, unfortunately”. <\/p>\n If you see or believe there may be a porcupine in your area, Bivona\u00a0asks that you either call their Ochoco Office at 541-591-1629 or submit their reporting form, which can be found here.<\/a> <\/p>\n Once found, Bivona says her and other ODFW biologists will put trackers on them, similar to what you see on some wolves and deer, “So they’ll just get a really cute, tiny version of that, and then we’ll get GPS points to track their habitat, use. We’re going to be doing diet analysis, cause of mortality”. <\/p>\n Project Porcupine\u00a0is already seeing success. They’ve found\u00a0six\u00a0so far, and those numbers are growing fast. “They’ve all had babies, a few of them. So when we get a little pork, you pet, which is the name of a baby porcupine on camera, it’s really exciting,” Biovona said.<\/p>\n Besides reporting any porcupines you or your pets may encounter, ODFW is also looking for proactive volunteers who want to track down porcupines themselves. Training sessions will be held with the High Desert Museum once volunteers have signed up.<\/p>\n Sign up to volunteer by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n