A stowaway porcupine that made an accidental trip across British Columbia was returned home in style on Friday.
The spiny creature found itself in Kelowna earlier this week, after the wreckage of a plane it had nested in was transported to the Okanagan from northern B.C.
That’s when workers with a salvage company found the spiky little creature stressed, dehydrated and wedged between two of the aircraft’s seats.
Since then, Mackenzie the porcupine has been recovering in the care of the Interior Wildlife Rehabilitation Society in Summerland.
“We’re very happy that we’re able to bring the porcupine back where it belongs, and it is part of our mission to release the animals back where they were found. That’s really how it should be,” said Eva Hartmann with the Interior Wildlife Rehabilitation Society.
On Friday, she got the royal treatment.
A private plane flew into Penticton Regional Airport to pick her up, care of the volunteer wildlife transport organization Big to the Rescue.
She was bundled up securely for the flight home to the wilds just north of Mackenzie — the community she was named for.
“I offered to fly in from the coast and take it back home for its release,” Big to the Rescue pilot Jayson Biggins said.
“People have really jumped on board. It’s quite a story. It’s humans that cause the transport unknowingly, so it’s kind of nice humans are going to get involved to get it back to where it’s from.”
The cost of aviation fuel was fully covered thanks to generous community donations.
Mackenzie was only under human care for about a week, and rescuers say that while she had her quills up at first, the timid one-year-old eventually softened a bit before being sent back home.