One day we got a heck of a surprise. An alligator snapping turtle had moved into the pond and was eating the water lilies! We could not figure out how he got into our fenced, Jack Russell proof yard. We carefully removed enough plants to track him down, scooped him up with a big net, tossed him in a trash can and promptly took him the river and set him loose. One could lose a toe to that beast while working in the pond!