A 6-foot monitor lizard, similar to the one pictured here, is on the loose in Colorado. (Arvin C. Diesmos/National …It sounds more like a viral marketing campaign for the new "Spider-Man" movie. But a sheriff in Colorado Springs, Colo., has warned residents that an aggressive, 6-foot lizard is on the loose.
Teller County Sheriff Mike Ensminger described the reptile as a 25-pound Nile monitor lizard named Dino that escaped from his owner's yard, with his mesh leash still attached.
The Sheriff's Office sent out what's known as a reverse 911, in which it warned about 400 homes in the Woodland Park area that a "possibly aggressive animal" was wandering the streets.
"We have a 6-foot reptile out and about," Ensminger said. "If it gets hungry enough, we don't know what it will do."
And the sheriff sounded somewhat less than heroic in his approach to bringing Dino in. "I'm not going after it," Ensminger said. "I don't do reptiles."
Dino's owner, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Greg, told local station KKTV that the lizard is not aggressive. But he also admitted that it's not the first time Dino has escaped from his backyard confines. Greg said that about a year ago, Dino went missing for two weeks before being found about 100 feet away from his home.
Monitor lizards normally feed on smaller creatures like rodents, but local veterinarian Bradley Bundy told The Associated Press that they definitely could pose a threat to humans caught in their path.
"This kiddo could hurt someone if they don't know how to restrain it," he said.