Pepo: the porcupine
Coendou mexicanus

Pepo, the porcupine, has been in Monkey Park for the last three years. He was brought here by a nice North American lady who lives in the Playa Potrero area. This lady saw a little animal fall out of one of the trees in her backyard. On her second visit to the park, when she realized the porcupine had survived and flourished, she commented excitedly, “I caught it with my own hands when it was still falling from the tree, he still had his umbilical cord…”,.

He won’t be freed
When Pepo was just a baby he couldn’t be set free because he wasn’t capable of surviving on his own. He would have died of cold, hunger or as an easy prey for one of his predators. Now he is used to captivity and has become dependant on human beings.