Quilled In the Line of Duty: Porcupine Helps Oregon Man Escape

Sheriff’s deputies in Oregon were closing in on a man on the run from the law last weekend when a porcupine foiled the chase. Wanted on several felony warrants, 29-year-old Devin J. Wilson, of Coos Bay, escaped on foot when a deputy was about to snare him.

So the Coos County Sheriff’s Office put its ace K9 officer, Odin, on the suspect’s trail. Odin had been having a relaxing day, interacting with the kids at a local Easter egg hunt Saturday before he joined the chase.

Odin had that going for him in what probably turned out to be the dog’s worst day ever.

Odin was aggressively sniffing out the suspect during what officials described as a “very long, active track” when the prickly rodent joined the posse. As porcupines do when they feel threatened, this one moved its tail and released a quiver of quills, giving Wilson some assistance in his escape and Odin a mouthful of pain.

Odin took about 200 of the porcupine’s quills, Sgt. A. Slater, the investigating officer, said in a news release posted on Facebook. Several of the quills pierced Odin’s mouth and a couple landed next to his left eye.

Deputies suspended the chase and rushed the injured dog to a local veterinarian’s office, where he was sedated and treated. It took the vets about two hours to remove the quills and treat Odin, Slater said.

Porcupine quills aren’t poisonous, but the wounds can become infected. Odin received great care at the Hansen-Meekins Animal Hospital, Slater said. In a post Tuesday, the sheriff’s office said “Odin is healing and ready to get back to work.”

Meanwhile, Wilson remains on the lam.

“He has committed new crimes,” Slater said in the news release without elaborating, “and still has outstanding warrants.”

Slater said in the news release the sheriff’s office is grateful to the veterinary staff “for their dedication and professional care, as well as to the public for the outpouring of support for K9 Odin.”

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