Dog injured by large porcupine in Sweeny

SWEENY, Texas (KTRK) -- A miniature schnauzer is recovering after he had a run in with a large porcupine in Sweeny.

Shelby Lynne Vicars said it had been storming overnight Saturday and her dogs Duke and Curly were outside barking.

Shelby woke up from a loud clap of thunder, then heard a strange noise.

"I've lived here for my entire life and have never heard anything like it," Shelby said. "It was so loud that the inside dog was barking."

Vicars' mom, Susan Vicars, thought there were hogs outside, which was a normal occurrence in the area.

"She walked out to the yard to run them off and walked back up to the porch to what she thought was a baby pig. That is when she saw it," Shelby said.

Susan paused long enough to take a photo of a large porcupine standing next to the tire of one of their vehicles.

"She got so scared she ran into the front door trying to get back inside," Shelby said.

The porcupine ran off, but Susan noticed that Duke had quills in his throat, which eventually fell out.

Meanwhile, the big porcupine is still out there.

Shelby said they contacted one of their neighbors down the road who has exotic animals. Shelby was told that the porcupine escaped his cage Friday night.

"I'm keeping in contact with him so he can get him back, but we were told to stay back and keep the dogs away too," Shelby said.

Shelby said she's not 100 percent sure that the animal is actually her neighbor's, and people have contacted her claiming it is their porcupine.

As for Duke, Vicars' family is closely monitoring him. But he's been walking around and feeling much better.

MORE ABOUT PORCUPINES:

According to National Geographic, porcupines have needle-like quills to scare predators off. Porcupines in Africa have quills that are nearly a foot long.

The hair of a porcupine is soft, but they have a mix of sharp quills on their backs, sides and tail. Some may have more than 30,000 quills, and they will grow new ones to replace any that they have lost.

Porcupines that live in North America are the largest of all porcupines, according to National Geographic.

Other species of porcupines live in Africa, Europe and Asia.

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