JEZZINE, Lebanon: Carrying a metal trap, 35-year-old Dawoud Iskandar leaves his village of Ain al-Mir every day at sunset and wanders the mountains and valleys of the southern district of Jezzine in search of porcupines.
“During the day porcupines hide inside caves and grottos,” Iskandar said. “They come out at night to look for food.”
Porcupines live in the region’s forests and valleys and are also found along riverbanks, where they shelter in rocky caves and the dense underbrush. They usually come out of hiding to feed between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m.
Iskandar tracks them from the traces of food they leave behind.
“I use a metal trap, with bars made of hardened wires,” he explained. Porcupines are able to chew through some types of wire to make their escape.
To catch the animals, Iskandar said he baits his trap with pieces of potato or other vegetables. Once the porcupine smells the food, it enters the cage, the door drops and it is then trapped inside.
“In the morning I take the trapped porcupine back home and feed it until it’s ready for slaughter. [Then I] skin it and remove the quills,” Iskandar said.
Porcupines are covered with sharp quills, which they use to defend themselves from predators.
Iskandar caught three porcupines last week, and another two earlier this week – one female and one male. He’s unwilling to slaughter them yet as he’s hoping they will breed.
“The meat is tender and low in fat and I grill it for my guests,” he added.
Iskandar isn’t the only one hunting porcupines. Other trappers speak of the rush they get from hiking the mountainous terrain in search of the animals.
Abu Salim al-Nouri, said that Bedouins are famous for hunting porcupines. “We live in tents and move from one place to another – we have inherited this from our ancestors.”
Unlike Iskandar, Nouri said he doesn’t use traps. Instead, a group corners the porcupine and strikes it on the head.
“Then we carry it cautiously out of fear that it will injure us with its quills,” he added.
But few Bedouins still hunt porcupines to feed their families.
Palestinian national Nayef Hamadeh, 76, has been trapping the animals since he was 16.
He said his father used to hunt porcupines in Palestine and continued the practice in Lebanon when his family moved to the Nabatieh village of Ansar following the Nakba in 1948.
“My father would climb across mountains, caves, and valleys in order to hunt porcupines. I used to go with him,” Hamadeh recalled.
Originally, hunting dogs were used to find porcupine lairs, but in time, trapping became more prevalent.
Hamadeh is famous in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh for hunting porcupines in the rugged areas outside the camp. “You have to be careful because its quills can inflict serious injuries,” he warned.
He boasted that he has probably hunted thousands over the course of his life.
“I inherited it from my father, but none of my children cared about it. After my death the porcupines will finally have a break from me,” Hamadeh quipped.
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