When a resident of Plymouth went to her kitchen to make her lunch and a cup of tea, she was shocked to look out the window and spot a crocodile in her back garden.

To be fair, it's not what you expect to see, so she called her neighbours and they agreed that the best course of action would be to contact the relevant authorities to come in and deal with the dangerous animal. 

Both the police and the animal handlers at Dartmoor Zoo sprung into action on hearing that there was a 3-foot long croc on the loose, and when they arrived they went to take a look through the window. After a while, they became suspicious of the fact that the animal had not moved at all in the time they had been there. 

Pic via ITV News/Devon and Cornwall Police

Once they'd observed it for a while, the mother-of-one (who has not been named), said that "one of the police officers bravely went out to have a look. They threw water on it and it didn't move", at which point they discovered it was actually an inflatable toy. "I'm absolutely mortified", she added. 

With tongue firmly in cheek, a police spokesperson said that they had "apprehended" the toy crocodile in question. 

Via ITV News and Independent.ie. Main pic via Dauvit Alexander/Flickr