BENTON COUNTY DAILY RECORD (Arkansas) 27 June 04 Teens find crocodile in Garfield farm’s pond (Phillip Ameling)
Garfield: Friday afternoon, two teenage boys cast a fishing line into a pond on a Garfield farm and reeled in a 2 1/2-foot-long caiman crocodile.
Mary Townsend was in her house when Andrew Puckett and Jayson Hawthorne alerted her to the presence of what they thought was an alligator swimming around in the Townsend’s pond at around 3:30 p.m. on Friday. The boys were fishing when they spotted the reptile’s eyes and tail breaking the surface of the water. "I just had to see it," she said. "It was just swimming around having a good time in the nice weather."
The two boys, upon seeing the reptile, baited their fishing line with a bit of turkey and reeled it onto the grass next to them at around 6 p.m. "They just reached down and grabbed it," said Townsend, adding that they did not harm the reptile.
She had no idea what kind of reptile it was or where the reptile could have come from. "I do have neighbors that keep exotic animals, but I don’t think they have any alligators," she said, adding their pond does not connect with any streams or rivers.
The Townsends called the Game and Fish Commission on Friday, and at around 3:30 p.m. Saturday, a Benton County game and fish officer received the reptile.
The reptile was taken to the fish hatchery in Centerton and will eventually end up in the Little Rock Zoo.
Teens find crocodile in Garfield farm’s pond