Woodland Park Zoo's porcupines are located in the award- winning Northern Trail. During the summer look up in the trees to find the resting porcupines. Porcupines are a very successful species and are not endangered. Nonetheless, porcupines have enemies, humans being the most lethal. The timber industry targets the porcupine because of its year round taste for trees.
Agriculturists also consider the porcupine a pest when it forages on crops such as corn.
A desire for salt leads porcupines to gnaw on objects as varied as vehicle tires for road salt or axe handles for salty human perspiration. Humans have used bounties and poisoning against porcupines to control their numbers. During the 1950s and 1960s, reintroduced fishers successfully reduced porcupine populations in programs in states from Oregon to Vermont. Although the porcupine is not considered endangered, many other plant and animal species are in peril. The effort to save endangered species requires cooperation and support at the individual, regional, national and international levels.