GREEN COVE SPRINGS — Katherine Baker’s dog, Pepsi, doesn’t usually bark at other canines or squirrels, both common in the neighborhood.
But on a midnight walk during a September weekend, something in the dark put Baker’s dachshund/miniature pinscher mix on alert.
Baker, 44, couldn’t see the animal at first, but she quickly realized what was climbing in a nearby tree.
“I kept hearing branches breaking — not twigs,” she said. “I used to live in North Carolina and would run into them hiking and camping.