The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1901-09-05
poRCUPINEs IN WISCONSIN.
lures Protected by n Queer
Law of the State.

, CN 9N' AhCiC pines, Oh the GOIl-
mon hedgehog variety, than you did
game. Suppose one of them sneaked
up behind your camp, and made off
with the string of black bass that was
all you had for dinner. Suppose your
S15C dog made a dash at the thief,
and came back witA his nose so full
of quilts that you had to sit down
and pull them out by main force,
while he howled loud enough to be
heard in the next county, writes John
Dickinson Sherman, in Youths Com
panion.
Then you would probably pick up
a club and start for that porcupine,
determined to send him where there
are no black bass to steal, and no
hunting dogs to MAIN. And suddenly
your guide seizes you and prevents
you by main force. In answer to
your argument that a porcupine is of
no use on earth, he tells you that it
is against the state law of Wisconsin
to kill one. Wouldn't you think that
law was queer law?
And suppose you saw acres of dead
Eastwood and birch and maple trees
that the pOrcupines had killed.
Wouldn't you be inclined to think
that the people of Wisconsin were
crazy to keep such law on the stat
ute books and enforce it? And
wouldn't You think Wisconsin should
be called, instead of the Badger
State" the Hedgehog State" or the
''porcupine paradise?"
This queer Wisconsin law, the like
of which exists nowhere else in the
United States. is apparently designed
to establish the right of the porcu-
pine to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness within the state boundar-
les. 1t has been on the statute books
ever since there have been any such
volumes, and there has never been an
effort made to repeal it. Of course
it is often violated, but nine out of
ten country justices of the peace will
inflict the full penalty under ordinary
circumstances. This is severe: the
law provides a heavy fine or impris-
onment for the killing or sharing of
a porcupine.
At first glance, one of the queer
things about this law is the fact that
no effort has ever been made to have
it repealed. One would suppose that
the lumbermen would have had it
scratched off the books long ago.
LAUNDERING is one of the principal in
dustries of the state, and the lumber
men naturally have considerable in
fluence in the legislature. Now, the
lumberman does not love the porcu-
pine; on the contrary, he holds him
in undying hatred. The animal ruins
thousands of dollars worth of tim
Der every year, and the aggregate of
the damage it has inflicted is almost
beyond computation.
Of course, the porcupine does not
go about killing trees for fun; but
nature has given him an Unsuitable
appetite for the inner bark and ten
der buds of the Eastwood, the birch,
the maple and other forest trees. He
picks out a good-looking tree, begins
at the top and ends at the bottom.
When he gets through with that par
llCuldG tree, lHtIG Is hOIllluS ItIl Dub
the bare trunk and the stripped
limbs. Then he picks out another
maple or birch, and repeats the per-
Torrance. Meanwhile, his sisters and
his cousins and his aunts, to say
nothing of the male relatives, are do
ing the same thing all round him. So
it is easy to see why the lumberman
does not love the porcupine.
Why. then, does the law of Wiscon-
sin protect the animal? This is the
reason: The porcupine is a life-saver.
Nature seems to have designed him
as a food supply for lost and I'M
armed and starving men. Wisconsin
forests are vast, and human habita-
TORS in certain parts of the state are
few and far between. But no man
need starve to death while the porcu-
pine tlourishes.
For the animal is everywhere, wait
ing to be killed and eaten. He cam
not escape if he would, and he does
not try. He curls up into ball and
fancies himself secure, but a blow
from a club will kill him easily. In
short, the porcupine is the only eat
able animal that an unarmed man
can catch and kill. Every year many
a lost and hungry man in the painless
forests of Wisconsin has dined heart
lily on roast porcupine and come out
alive and unframed, whereas other
wise he would have chewed his belt
and boots, gnawed bark and died.
The porcupine is princely banquet
to starving man, even when roasted
over an open fire without salt, and
indeed, he is as delicious as a 'possum.
His bones are small, his flesh tender
and his flavor good. The bark and
buds on which he lives give him n
wild taste that is decidedly appetite
ing.
So the porcupine flourishes in the
Wisconsin forests. Wild animals cam
not harm him, the farmers dog has
learned by experience to let him
alone, and man is forbidden by law
to modest him. The animal breeds by
the thousands and lives a long life of
ease. He does thousands of dollars
worth of damage every year to the
forests. But every year the porcu-
pine makes return, giving up his life
that some human being may live.