Well-traveled porcupine relocated from hotel parking lot in Iowa

The porcupine was relocated "to a more suitable wildlife area outside of town."

IOWA (Web Desk) - Wildlife officials in Iowa responded to a hotel parking lot to relocate an unusual non-native animal: a porcupine.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources said in a Facebook post that personnel responded to the parking lot of a Sioux City hotel on a report of a wandering porcupine.

The department said porcupines are not native to Iowa, but they have occasionally wandered in from neighboring states.

The post said the porcupine was relocated "to a more suitable wildlife area outside of town."

DNR researchers collected some quills and fecal samples from the porcupine to conduct DNA tests and try to determine where the animal originated.