evidence: Although crested porcupine Hystrix cristata (hereafter, porcupine) damages to croplands are negligible compared to other species (Laurenzi et al. 2016), this large rodent is considered as one of the main agricultural pests by farmers in Tuscany (Laurenzi et al. 2016; Cerri et al. 2017; Lovari et al. 2017). In European law, the porcupine has been listed in Appendix II of the Bern Convention and Appendix IV of the ‘Habitat’ Directive since 1978 and 1982, respectively. In Italy, the species has been protected since 1977 (National Law 968/1977) and is listed among the ‘particularly protected species’ in National Law 157/1992. Despite this level of legal protection, this rodent is still heavily poached for its tasty meat, and because of (real or perceived) damages to croplands (Laurenzi et al. 2016; Lovari et al. 2017). The highest damages have been reported to occur primarily in private unprotected vegetable gardens (Laurenzi et al. 2016), leading to resentment among the owners. Moreover, local intolerance towards porcupines has increased due to damages to riverbanks caused by burrow digging (Lovari et al. 2017) and wounds provoked on hunting hounds (Mori et al. 2014a).