An alligator estimated to be 9-feet in length was displaced after heavy rain in the Grubbs, Arkansas, area caused nearby rivers to overflow.
Local resident Frank Pierce told KAIT-8 that he and his family spotted the large reptile “laying out in the field” as they were on their way to go fishing.
Later, authorities with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office were called. Sheriff David Lucas said officials at first thought the call was a joke.
“When we first got the call, we thought well this is some kind of prank or a log or something because you just don’t see gators this far north,” he told the news station.
But he would soon find out it was no hoax.
“[I] looked out in the field and saw it sitting there and I thought, ‘I don’t know what we’re going to do,’” he added.
Mark Barbee, a wildlife biologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, told KAIT-8 why the gator found its way to such an unusual place, citing heavy rainfall as a likely reason.
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“What’s happened is with all the recent rainfall, it’s just displaced him out of the river system is what’s happening," he said.
A second gator, too, was also reportedly found in the same area.