Rare albino baby porcupine rescued in northern B.C.
An animal shelter in northwestern B.C. has recently welcomed a unique guest that's attracting a lot of attention.
Over the weekend, the Northern Lights Wildlife Society (NLWS) in Smithers — about 370 kilometres northwest of Prince George— announced on social media that it has rescued a rare albino baby porcupine.
"Now he/she will stay with us for a few months and get room service," the non-profit animal sanctuary wrote on a Facebook post welcoming the animal with all-white quills.
Manager and co-founder Angelika Langen says Coconut — the name chosen for the porcupine — was taken into the shelter after calls from Smithers residents who had spotted the animal chewing hydraulic hoses and electrical cables at their home.
"Our team went over there to have a look and spotted it and were able to guide it carefully into a transport box and bring it out here," Langen said about the animal, for which the team hasn't been able to determine the gender due to the sharp spines on its body.
Coconut, or Coco for short, scratches a tree bark inside a box prepared by the Northern Lights Wildlife Society. (Northern Lights Wildlife Society)
NLWS is one of the three shelters in the province permitted to raise, rehabilitate and release orphaned bear cubs, according to B.C.'s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. It also helps other wildlife species, but it says it hasn't rescued very many porcupines since it began operation in 1989.
Albinism is rare in porcupines, says prof
Ecosystem science professor Ken Otter of the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George confirms Coconut is an albino given the animal's pink eyes, which he says are often associated with albinism, a genetic mutation caused by a faulty enzyme that prevents the animal from producing melanin.
"[Melanin] affects the colourization of your eyes, and it also is deposited in hair and creates darker colours in hair."
Otter says the probability for a mammal-like porcupine developing albinism is extremely low, ranging from one in 20,000 to one in a million.
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He also distinguishes albinism from colour polymorphism, a genetic phenomenon where the melanin deposits in the animal's skin and eyes but not in its fur.
Langen says Coconut and the few other porcupines NLWS has rescued are very popular among her teammates.
"We love them. They're really cute animals to work with and craft quite the personality, and that makes a lot of fun when you're working with something like this, and they go [go back to the] wild afterwards really well."
She adds that Coconut currently looks healthy, but the animal sanctuary has planned to keep it over the winter and hasn't decided when to release it back into the wild.
"I don't know [how] their life expectancy is compared to others," she said. "I will have to do some research on how that goes, and we'll decide from there when would be a good release point."
Langen asks people living in the Bulkley Valley to call NLWS for help if they spot a porcupine in their neighbourhood.
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This orticle, written by Winston Szeto was originally published in CBC News. With files from Nicole Oud. Thumbnail courtesy of Northern Lights Wildlife Society.
