By Adam Eisenbarth
A prickly highway incident has quickly turned into a fun little story.
One late May night, Rimbey RCMP Const. Charles Lambright was nearly finished his patrol when he struck a porcupine with his car on Highway 20.
“I had a car pass me going the other direction so I didn’t have good visibility for a second or two after it went by. I flipped my lights back onto bright and just as I did that I saw the mother porcupine.”
As Lambright removed the debris from the road he noticed something moving.
“I didn’t know what I was looking at to begin with because it was just some little black thing moving around and I couldn’t tell what it was.”
Lambright moved to the side of the road with the animal for a better look.
“I pulled out my flashlight and had a look and there was a baby porcupine kicking around in there.”
So he did what any animal lover would do in that situation; he cut the baby free from its umbilical cord and carried the little critter to his car.
“It rode around on the floor of the car for the last little bit of my schedule with the heat blowing on her full tilt,” Lambright explained.
He completed his shift and took the kit home to his family. After years of helping animals, Lambright says his wife was not surprised by the arrival of this latest four-legged friend.
“I bring things home all the time. I’ve got cats at home there that I got handed when they were kittens and had been left under a bridge at my last posting. We just kind of collect critters as they go.”
Of course the family knew they couldn’t keep this animal and immediately got to work on finding it a home.
After a few calls they found the Medicine River Animal Centre had already considered bringing a porcupine to the centre.
“We didn’t want to get too excited when this happened because he was inside his mother when she was hit so there was a chance that he might die also,” said executive director Carol Kelly.
With care from the centre, Charlie is doing very well and is getting bigger every day.
“He’s awesome. He has just become very active. He’s just started to be curious and inquisitive and when the staff take him for a walk he just loves to romp in the grass and chew on the dandelions. He’s a little kid.”
Charlie will be a member of the education team as they travel to schools and events to teach students about wildlife.
As for Lambright, he’s astounded by the attention the story has received; garnering stories in the national media and on the Internet.
“I am absolutely taken completely aback. I would have never dreamt it. I never told anybody about this except for my wife because, A, I didn’t think it was that big of a deal and B, I was more ashamed over running over mom than I was over any of the other aspects of it.”
Charlie the porcupine will surely see his saviour in the future as Lambright plans to stop by every now and then.
“They are cute, cute, cute. If you have never seen one I highly advise it.”