A PORCUPINE is the latest prickly problem for county rescue workers more used to caring for hedgehogs.

And an emu is also among the unusual guests at the Vale Wildlife Rescue Centre, in Beckford, where staff care for around 5,000 sick and injured wild birds and animals each year.

Unlike emus and porcupines, most are natives of the English countryside, including 3,000 wild birds, nearly 1,000 hedgehogs and other mammals such as foxes and badgers.

Porcupines are normally found in Canada and North America, so workers at the centre were startled to hear that one had been found in the Forest of Dean.

"We've looked after some pretty unusual animals here over the years, but this has to be the oddest found wandering around the countryside," said manager Caroline Gould.

"Luckily we have had some experience of porcupines - we looked after seven for a while when a wildlife park closed down.

"They are not easy creatures to deal with because the quills are pretty nasty. They've got barbs on them, so if they stick into you they stay in you.

"To keep a porcupine you have to have a licence under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act.

"I think as no one has claimed this one it was probably released on purpose by its owner, rather than escaping," she added.

The centre has applied for a licence to keep the porcupine, but it will probably go to a zoo or wildlife park if its owner does not come forward.

The emu came from a wildlife centre in South Wales that was closing down.

"She is not in a wonderful condition, but she is improving and will probably go to our visitor centre shortly," said Ms Gould.

Visitors are not allowed into the wildlife hospital, where the patients are handled as little as possible, with the aim of returning them to the wild.

Spring is the centre's busiest time of year. As many as 500 young birds and mammals may be cared for at any one time, including 40 or more different species.