Hola my spiky amigos,

My name is Rocky and the humans tell me that I am a baby Porcupine, whatever that is. All I know is that I am small and spiky and I love nibbling on corn.

I´m not sure how I got here, but thank God I did. I remember being a very happy baby Porcupine. My mummy and I were living in a place full of little humans. I think you call it a school. I liked living there. I would listen to the tiny people playing and laughing while I cuddled with my mummy.

But one day, the humans were much too close and much too loud. They were all around me and I was scared. Where was my mummy? I don’t know what happened.  Maybe I fell? I can’t remember but I was all alone, surrounded by humans and my mummy was gone. 

I was so afraid. I cried. I used to cry a lot when I first lost my mummy. Luckily, a nice man who wasn't afraid of my spikes, bundled me up and brought me to this safe place.

When I arrived I remember hearing the most loving sound- my new human mummy´s voice. Her name was Leslie. Leslie gave me lots of love and care and made me feel safe again. There are other people here that care for me too and they come and visit me every day. They bring me food and they talk to me. One human in particular loves to spend time with me. She comes almost every day and she talks to me and feeds me corn. She´s not afraid of my spikes either.

She encourages me to sit up like a big boy and hold the corn myself to eat it, I drop it a lot but she always picks it up and hands it back to me. The only thing is, she talks funny- not like the rest of the humans, I´ve heard people say she is all the way from England so maybe that´s why. But it´s ok because I know she loves me.

For a while I’ve been living in my own cage but I know there are other, bigger porcupines around me. I can hear them.  A few days ago my cage was opened and now I get to roam around with my bigger amigos. I must admit, when I was feeling brave, I would sometimes make a run for it when the humans brought me my food. My escape never lasted long before the humans returned me to my safe cage.

At first I was afraid to leave my cage, but one night I decided I had to be a brave boy and climbed all the way to the top of my new big house where the big Porcupines live. Their names are Merry and Pokey. Pokey sleeps all the time but Merry reminds me of my mummy. I think she will take care of me. 

The humans tell me that one day when I am big enough and strong enough, I will be released back into the wild. That´s very exciting!  But for now, I am very happy in my home with all of these humans that love me. I am safe and I am very lucky my human mummy Leslie found me. 

I hope you enjoyed my story but now I must go, I see my humans coming with corn.

Until next time my spiky amigos.

You can adopt animals like Rocky by supporting our Adoption Program! 

By former volunteer Robyn Shimwell | You can read more articles like this one on our newsletter, subscribe today!