This morning we came across this cow moose along the Mirror Lake Highway in Summit County. At first, while looking through our viewfinders, we weren’t sure what was “stuck” to her face. Turns out that this poor critter was the apparent loser in an encounter with a porcupine as she had at least 13 quills embedded in the bulbous part of her nose.
She watched us carefully for a few minutes…
and then began to lick her snout as if she was either trying to dislodge the quills or simply sooth the pain.
At least she was able to eat with no apparent problem.
Then she turned toward the road, crossed it right in front of us and went into the shade for a few seconds before ambling off.
I’ve got to admit to feeling very badly for this poor animal. I’ve seen farm dogs and horses fall victim to the wrath of porcupines and it isn’t pretty. There was a road-killed porcupine a very short distance from where we found this moose and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was the same animal that tagged her.
Ron
Great post and photos, Ron. I, like all of your other commentors, wonder what the final outcome will be. I guess I don’t really want to know, but I do hope for the favorable kind.
Thank you Bob. I wonder too…
Poor girl! I wonder what happens if they don’t get removed? Infection? do they work themselves out?
That’s the scary part Tana. It’s my understanding that quills sometimes fall out if the area becomes infected but most often, because of the tiny one-way barbs at the base of the quill, they continue to work their way deeper.
Ouch. I suspect it was a relatively recent encounter – there looks to be no swelling/infection. I imagine it was/is very painful though.
I thought it likely to be a recent encounter too Elephant’s Child. And the road-killed porcupine was “fresh” also, which was part of the reason I wondered if that porkie was responsible for these quills in the moose.
What beautiful shots! Poor thing… Ah, but the porcupine was defending herself, too. I just hope the quills eventually fall out?
I agree Christina – the porcupine certainly can’t be blamed for what happened. In fact I have a particular fondness for porcupines – perhaps fodder for another post in the future…
Ouch!I wonder If they could tranqualize and extract. Nice photos.
Thanks Earl. I suspect that they could but I doubt that they would.
That title got my attention immediately when it popped into my mailbox via RSS feed.
Yeeouch!
Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be too curious. She looks young. I imagine she’s learned from her mistake.
Young – and beautiful! Muscular, shiny… gorgeous!
Interesting find and beautiful photos!
Katie, yes she looks young and very healthy. And I suspect (hope) she’ll avoid porcupines in the future though I knew a farm dog that never learned that lesson and had multiple porcupine encounters. Toby was small and absolutely fearless but not very smart. He was a slow learner regarding skunks too. Other dogs learned these lessons quickly.