When your phone rings, you expect to hear from friends, family and the occasional telemarketer. You don’t expect to receive notification of a giant lizard on the loose. Yet that’s exactly what happened in Woodland Park, Colorado, the week of July 17, 2012.

After a six foot Nile monitor lizard was reported missing by its owner, officials with the Teller County Sheriff’s Office decided to activate the GeoCast® Web™ emergency notification system supplied by Cassidian Communications, an EADS North America company. In the end, approximately 400 residents were advised to be on the lookout for the creature and to notify authorities if spotted.

While this use of emergency notification technology may not be typical, it’s certainly not that unusual. Take the recent use of GeoCast® Web™ in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, where a horse diagnosed with rabies posed a serious health risk. And other public safety operations throughout the country are following suit, exercising their notification systems for reasons like localized mosquito spraying, immunization clinics and community recycling efforts.

That said, the next time you face an unexpected, or even unusual situation, or just want to engage the people you serve, consider activating yours. Like the old adage goes, “It’s better to be safe than sorry.”