‘At first, I thought it was a fluffy white cat’: An albino porcupine is randomly seen crossing a road in Vermont, and it sparks comments about how cute it is from people on the internet

Giuliana Tiscioni • Writer

Nov 5, 2026 7:30 AM EST

The most surprising encounters with wildlife happen in the most unexpected places…

When we think about having a fortuitous encounter with wildlife, we always think we need to be in the middle of the forest or on a safari, but nope. Wild animals can spring at you in the most random moments and places. I don't mean to say that a lion is going to show up out of nowhere and try to eat you. For that, you would need to be in the middle of the savannah. But there are smaller, fluffier, and less dangerous wild animals out there that can show up on a random Tuesday to make your day more interesting. Which is exactly what happened to this couple!

They were driving in Vermont at the beginning of October when they saw a fluffy thing on the side of the road. They slowed down the car, obviously, and they saw the little creature cross right in front of them. At first they thought it was a cat, but it turned out it wasn't! It was an albino porcupine! You don't see that every day or on every road.

I can't even remember the last time in my life I saw a porcupine. In fact, I'm not even sure I have ever seen one in real life, just through pictures and videos, and for sure I had no idea there were albino porcupines in existence. Apparently, they are very rare; only 1 in 10.000 porcupines have that genetic mutation that prevents them from producing dark fur. They are definitely cute and look like a soft ball of wool. Mind you, they are still porcupines and still have those pointy spines, but we know ourselves by now: nothing could ever stop us from petting a cute little animal, not even the possibility of getting poked by one of those spines. We only hope that little buddy is okay out there, and that he has a long and happy life!

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My thoughts exactly! I'm glad I'm not the only one who calls rare animals Pokémon. And as a Pokémon, it is our responsibility to catch 'em all, take them to wildlife sanctuaries, and make sure they have the best life possible, especially with rare species like these.
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This is exactly what I mean, and this meme summarizes our experience completely and so accurately! There's not a single fluffy creature out there that is safe from our attempts to pet them and give them as much love and affection as is possible! No matter if we're talking about a cat, a dog, a porcupine, a llama, or even a lion. An animal is an animal, and we will ignore every and all attempts at making us back down. After all, 'if not friend, why friend shaped?' And that sentence is the origin of all the scratches and bites we have collected proudly over the years. Our love for animals is going to be the end of us, and we'll accept it with a big smile on our faces.
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