Reader photo: That’s close enough

Carlene Hardt and her husband were walking with their two dogs at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge on Oct. 1 when they spotted a porcupine on the gravel path by Headquarters Pond.

“It was nibbling on low plants and paid little attention to us as we walked by,” she said. “A little farther up the trail our puppy started sniffing around a fallen tree. My husband noticed just in time that it was another porcupine! He pulled back on the leash before she got a nose full of quills for her curiosity.

“This close encounter was a good reminder why keeping our dogs on a leash at Turnbull is so important.”

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