Dec. 4 (UPI) -- A Kentucky man doing duck hunting preparations with his grandson snapped photos of an unusual swamp resident -- a small alligator.
Chris Drummond said he and his grandson, Wyatt, were leaving a duck blind at the Fallen Timber Farms hunting ground in Ballard County when they took pictures of the surprising reptile.
"It's one of those things you look down and you don't believe your own eyes," Drummond told WPSD-TV. "I've been roaming around down here for for some time and never seen anything quite like that."
"I really thought someone was playing a trick on me. I pulled up to about here, and he raised his head up. That's when I took the second picture. We backed out real slow trying not to disturb him," he said.
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife set traps in the area in the hopes of snaring the alligator.
The origins of the animal are unknown, but Drummond said Fish and Wildlife officials speculated it could be an escaped pet or a stowaway on a barge.
"We are about a mile from the Ohio River, probably about 4 or 5 miles from the Mississippi River," Drummond said. "Department of Fish and Wildlife seem to think he may have hitchhiked up on here on a barge."
A Fish and Wildlife spokesman said an alligator would be unlikely to survive for long in the area due to the cold temperatures.
