Escaped porcupines took themselves on a tour of Dumfries
The escape artists are to be part of the farm's new small-animal experience.
Last updated 18th Mar 2024
Two porcupines not only broke loose from Dalscone Farm but also broke the internet.
The petting zoo in Dumfries saw their two new spikey family members disappear and venture two miles to a housing estate in Heathhall.
Farmer Ben Best realised the pair were missing within a couple of hours of their adventure and was inundated with messages on social media saying they were found in a garden a couple miles up the road.
They had not long been moved into their new permanent home but due to their curious nature, they were keen to see what was on the other side of their enclosure:
“They managed to break a bit of steel that was on their door and basically pull the door off their enclosure. They’re very inquisitive and very strong” says farmer Ben.
“They broke out and I think they’ve just followed the cycle path basically. They went straight across the A701 and onto the cycle path and followed that route all the way into Heathhall and eventually ended up in the housing estate.
“They were actually only out for a few hours so the whole ordeal did only last a couple of hours before we were able to catch them and get them back into their enclosure.
“They certainly went for it. They’re called Mo and Farrah now because they can run so far and so fast.”
Ben has confirmed they're back and their pen has been fixed so there's no chance of history repeating itself with another breakout.
The troublesome two will be featured in the petting zoo’s new small-animal experience next Monday (25th March) along with a range of other different species.
“Our plan was to release the porcupines on Facebook on the Saturday, so we actually let them out the bag quite literally. We were wanting to keep them under wraps until we released them on our social media channels, but they beat us to it, so they’ve now broke the internet round about Scotland.”