Lost alligator surprises students on first day at Central Florida school, deputies say

FORT MEADE, Fla. - As students at a Central Florida high school embarked on their first day back to school, they were encountered by a rather unconventional classmate – a lost alligator. 

A small alligator was found in one of the dugouts at the softball field at Fort Meade Middle-Senior High School on Friday, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said on Facebook. 

A school resource deputy helped remove the alligator from the school's campus. 

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"In other words, he provided a little gator-aid," the sheriff's office said about the responding deputy.