I thought the big story was no snow, but now as I sit here I can see the snow piling up on the bushes outside my window. It is fitting that I am writing about no snow while it snows, because I seem to be slightly behind in everything (except paying my bills – I always pay bills on time). A bigger story is 14 female porcupines captured, collared and on air in Sandhill. This is an impressive number, for two weeks worth of work with no snow. The credit goes not to me, but to the graduate student pursing his research on (roughly) the effect of climate change on winter adapted and non-winter adapted species. (I’m probably in the ball park about that, although sometimes I don’t listen to details very well) But the biggest story is catching Culver, an old grey lady with a long jaw and a take-no-shit attitude. It was pointed out to me that she is approximately the same age as most of the high school students in the program, being at least 17 years old. I believe this is her last year with us, as she is five pounds lighter than this time last year, and last year was a lot tougher winter than this one has been. I toyed with the idea of keeping her inside a warm building and feeding her apples for the remainder of her life, but I understand my idea of comfort is probably different than hers. Besides, when you reach inside an occupied porcupine tree den (do NOT do this at home, by the way) you can feel the toasty warm air. Home is where you hang your hat, or drop your poop if you’re a porcupine. Culver was fascinating when we brought her in. Like most old ladies, she’s seen it all before, and does not suffer fools. As I placed my face next to the trap to ogle her, she looked me straight in the eye, no flinching, no backing up. After measuring and poking and probing her, I returned her to her trap and gave her an apple. Most porcupines assume a nonchalant attitude toward the juicy apple three inches away from their hungry faces, “no, no, I couldn’t” or “dude, I don’t need your stupid apple, you just probed me!” or the like. Culver reached for the apple and took it from me before I knew what was happening. She was smacking her lips like a Japanese businessman before I could drop the tarp and give her some privacy. This reminded me of something, and I looked up the old lady and found a previous post about her, as well as a lovely picture from two years ago, when she was a mere 15. She has always been sassy; the picture shows her giving me the hairy eyeball after I let her out of the den. Rage against the dying of the light, lady. Rage!
Culver, 2010, facing her kidnapper
- Culver today
