This 50-pound alligator took hours for animal control workers to capture in August 2005.
Daily Journal Archive Photo
News from around Johnson County as reported on Aug. 10 in the pages of the Daily Journal and the Franklin Evening Star from the last 111 years.
On this day in 2005, one of the stories on the front page of the Daily Journal is best described by its headline: “‘WRT says, ‘See ya later, alligator.’”
Crews in White River Township pulled a 50-pound alligator out of a mossy retention pond at Berkshire Estates. It took animal control workers, sheriff’s deputies and state workers several hours to corral the critter.
But a key question remained: How did it get there?
The mystery began after 12-year-old Berkshire Estate resident Darian Burchfield rode past the pond. One of her friends yelled at her to come over and look at the alligator.
She didn’t believe her friend. But she did later go over there on her own to check out the water for herself.
Burchfield wasn’t alone. Dozens of onlookers watched as Johnson County Animal Control workers tried to get the reptile out of the pond.
It took several hours for crews to finally catch the gator. They tried snaring and netting it at first, but it wasn’t until they fired a special sound gun into the water that the 4.5-foot-long reptile rolled onto the bank. After the gator was stunned, crew members used duct tape to keep its mouth shut.
Berkshire estates resident Craig Roberts, 13, said he spent about a half-hour watching the alligator.
“It was the first time I’ve ever seen an alligator that wasn’t in the zoo,” Roberts said. “It made me wonder, how did it get there?”
Animal control warden Shawn Donovan suspected it escaped from an owner’s property or was let loose on purpose.
“We don’t have any kind of history on this alligator, and we’re looking for information,” Donovan said. “But it sure didn’t swim here from Florida.”
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Other memorable Johnson County stories from this day
1973
An 18-year-old Greenwood man was killed and his companion was injured after they allegedly attacked an undercover detective in a Miami, Florida hotel.
1963
Franklin police were probing the theft of 12 tires from a service station on East Monroe Street.
1943
County residents were preparing for a military air show and a talk from Indiana’s governor at the Johnson County 4-H Fair.
