Dead porcupine found in western Newfoundland (via Chad Arment)

A very dead porcupine — an animal not native to Newfoundland — has been found on the Island's west coast.

A wildlife official said the animal was found by the side of a road in the Codroy Valley area.
"It's in very rough shape. It's very flat. It looks like it was run over at some point. It's pretty mangled. We're not even sure if it was male or female," said Shelley Moores.

Moores, a senior manager with the wildlife division of the province's department of environment and conservation, said wildlife officials believe it's the first sighting of a porcupine on the island of Newfoundland. However, it's not clear if the animal was ever actually alive when arrived on the island.

Porcupines are native to other parts of Atlantic Canada and Labrador. Other animals that are not native to Newfoundland, such as raccoons, are believed to have hitched a ride to the island on trucks coming by ferry to western Newfoundland.

But hitched a ride may not be the right way of describing how the animal's body arrived there. It's possible the porcupine's carcass was stuck to a vehicle that travelled from another part of the country, according to Moores.

"It was on the side of the road for at least a day, but it looks to us that it has been dead longer. It's starting to decompose. There's a good chance that it was dead when it got here," she said.

The porcupine was found by Eric Leukert who saw the carcass by the side of the road, took photgraphs, and called wildlife officials.

It's unknown what impact the species might have on the environment if it flourished in Newfoundland. Despite that, Moores said wildlife officials discourage anyone from introducing non-native species to the province.

Moores said wildlife officials would like to hear from anyone who believes they have any information about the hapless porcupine. In the meantime, they are doing what they can with the information they have.

"The only thing we can measure is the size of a paw and we are still looking into the literature to see if we can determine anything from that," said Moores.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2011/10/20/nl-porcupine-newfoundland-120.html

Russian tourists try to break Florida law having sex with porcupine

18.05.2009
Source: Pravda.Ru

Two Russian tourists paid a very high price for breaking the American law which bans sex with porcupines.

Staying in Florida on vacation, two Russians from Saint Petersburg decided to check whether they are able to circumvent such an unusual law or not.

Consequences appeared to be very sad. The poor fellows had to take needles from their genitals and treat inflammation for several months.

Having arrived in the USA, the Russians were given the book about the craziest American laws. For example, in Colombia sex - other than in a missionary position - is forbidden; in Kentucky it is forbidden to bring a lion to a movie theater; in Florida it is strictly forbidden to have sex with porcupines!

As it is known, forbidden fruit is always sweet, especially for Russians.

Doctors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center made the following diagnosis: 'needles of a porcupine in genitals'.

At first 32-year-old Anton and 30-year-old Eugenie had a good laugh at the senseless law written by local authorities. And then, after helping themselves with whisky, they decided to break this funny law.

“We came here to the USA to have fun!” said Anton and the two friends started their searches for the so called American "hedgehog". It took them less than an hour to find the animal.

With victorious shouts the drunken friends dropped their pants and started making unambiguous movements with their hips. Having sobered up the following morning the friends realized that they need medical help. So the animal-lovers had to go from the airport straight to hospital, Life.Ru reports.

Doctors of well-known medical center Cedars-Sinai diagnosed the case as ‘needles of a porcupine in genitals’.

“The most positive thing about the situation is that the Russian tourists did not have to stand trial in Florida. They left the state just in time,” said the doctors at the medical center.

Now American laws do not seem so funny to Anton and Eugenie. After returning to Moscow they had to get acquainted with Russian urologists: porcupine needles caused very strong inflammation.

Pravda.ru forum. The place where truth hurts

http://newsfromrussia.com/society/stories/18-05-2009/107573-porcupine_sex-0