Guest Blogger ( because I'm busy packing)

My good buddy Margaret e-mailed me this nice story the other day, and I had to share it with you.
(Margaret, or “Maggie”)

Below is the story of the wildlife rescue I took part in Sunday evening a week ago. This is a true story.

I was walking to my car after a date (at Taverna) in a downtown area of Austin that has restaurants and high end stores. I turn the corner and see two people excitedly taking pictures at the other corner (Cantina Laredo). Their truck was parked in the middle of the street. They took about 63 pictures and ran to the truck yelling at me, "There's a porcupine!" and "Only in Austin!"


So I walk up and sure enough there is a poor little porcupine trying to hide under the tables of a restaurant. I keep walking but quickly start feeling bad. I am across the street and I call my roommate to have her google "wildlife rescue Austin." As she is looking for it I watch two guys walk by and also notice the poor little rodent. (I learned later that they are rodents. Thought they were mammals or something.) The guys are so excited and start jumping around. By that time Ingrid gives me the wildlife number and I start walking back across the street, the little guy has left the restaurant tables and is running along the wall as the two guys jump behind him. The porcupine and the two guys round a corner into the entrance of the lofts that are above the shops and restaurants. He goes into the entrance where the elevators are and when I turn the corner there is already another guy who had just come out of the elevator and his taking pictures of him with his phone's camera. At that moment I realize that the two jumping bean guys are probably homeless and are high on I am guessing meth or heroin.



They were so excited. They were squatting down looking at him and couldn't quit rubbing their legs and heads. They could hardly contain themselves. It's better when I act it out.

Unproductive phone calls ensue to try and find somebody to come get the porcupine. One of the meth guys gives a speech about the animal being the one in danger because we were told during phone calls that somebody would only come if a person was in danger. He spoke eloquently of it being us the humans who are the ones endangering the sweet animals. Somebody mentions rabies and one of them says that it cannot be transferred between species. I start to disagree because, well that not true, but quickly realize reason is not one of this guy's strengths at the moment. So the loft guy says he is going upstairs to get a box. I stay downstairs to make sure the meth guys don't try and give the porcupine a hug. One of them can't contain himself and runs off to find his own box. He comes back all proud with one a little bigger than a shoe box. This animal we are dealing with is the size of a large cat.


His friend says something like, "Dude that's way too small." So he runs off again and gets a bigger one. Meanwhile meth guy #2 grabs a trash container that has wheels that was in the doorway. Now we are on to something because about three blocks away is the river that runs through town and has a bit of a green belt. So loft guy comes down with his date, a huge car cover, and a mid-size box. I haven't stopped laughing for about 15 minutes.

The porcupine was really cute. He sat like a human does and had these little arms that were kind of human-like too.


He never tried to run anywhere else but just sat in the corner and shook. Poor guy. Loft guy was kind of the leader and sends his date to get the wine and cigarettes at the store next door which is why he originally came down to the street level. We wait while she goes and gets the items and the four of them have a cigarette when she gets back. It seemed we were taking in the moment and what we were about to do. After that we were ready for action. The loft guy and two other guys that had joined the crew then laid the trash bin down and pushed it into the corner and scooped up the porcupine and flipped the lid over the top. Then the loft couple, the meth couple, and I all walk together the three blocks to release the porcupine back into the wild.


I told the girl wouldn't it be funny if they release him just to turn around and see him run back up the hill, into the street, and get hit by a car. I remembered my father telling me once about a rehabilitated seal that was re-released into the ocean. The whole town that had rescued it watched the release only to see the seal be eaten by a killer whale lingering near the shore.


Oh my goodness, we were quite the crew. On the way back to my car the two meth guys popped around various corners about three times. I called my date afterward to tell him what had happened and he expressed disappointment at missing the excitement. I told him that's what he gets for not walking me to my car.

-Maggie