ARKANSAS COUNTY, Ark. – Rice farmers in eastern Arkansas heading out to check fields Wednesday morning instead found something with a bit more bite.
Farmers Turner Earhart and Owen Luebke said they were leaving their shop outside of Dewitt to check water levels in rice fields when they noticed something in the ditch near the road.
While the pair first thought they had seen part of a tire, a closer look revealed that the ditch dweller was instead a large alligator.
The two said they were able to tie a rope to their end of a large pole, which they then looped around the gator’s snout before dragging the reptile up into the yard.
A game warden happened to be driving down Highway 165, the pair said, so they flagged him down. That warden contacted more authorities, who were able to gather up the alligator and release it back out safely into the wild.