I worked at a wildlife rehabilitation center and I took care of a porcupine. I had to move him with a rubber mat because their quills are actually hook like at the end and will burrow deeper into your skin as a defense mechanism. A girl at the facility got barbed by him and she cried when we pulled out the quills. The only way in the U.S. you could own one would be for educational purposes so it wouldn't be a pet per se, but if you got the permit they could live in your house with you and be very pet like.