Ok people ... there's a pretty big difference between a salamander and an alligator.
But apparently, it can sometimes be tricky to tell the difference. At least in the dark. On a porch.
That was the experience of one Montrose-area homeowner who called police and said there was an alligator on his porch.
Deputy Dominic Lovato, a 5 1/2-year veteran of the Montrose County Sheriff's Office, along with Sgt. Ty Cox and Deputy Michael Skelton, responded to the call at about 10:30 p.m. last Saturday.
"Of course we all looked at each other and said, 'We got to see this,'" Lovato said.
Lovato said he initially thought that someone's pet might have escaped.
"[The homeowner] came outside and he said, 'Please come inside," because it's out on the patio," Lovato said. "He said, 'It's probably safer to at least look at first from the patio.' ... 'My wife has eyes on it.'"
Lovato said he and the other deputies followed the homeowner out to the patio and looked out the window.
"I just looked over my shoulder at him, and I said, 'Well that's a water dog. It's a salamander,'" Lovato said.
Lovato said the homeowner was surprised and "really thought" it was an alligator.
"Well that night was the first kind of cool night that we've had going into fall now, and if I were to guess, [the salamander] was probably just looking for a little warm spot to hang out," Lovato said.
Lovato said the salamander was about 8 inches long, "big" for a salamander.
At the homeowner's request, Lovato picked the salamander up by the tail and, "crossed [the homeowner's] little fence, walked back, and I pitched it over into the canal. And that was that."
That's one way to handle an alligator call.
