A wild monitor lizard sparked panic among Buddhist monks after it rampaged through their temple.

The creature seemed to be looking for food when it entered the religious building in Ang Thong, Thailand.

Shocked devotees at the Lohsutthawat Temple called the emergency services but the reptile scampered through the building knocking over shrines.

The aggressive reptile hissed and tried to attack the monks so they hid inside one of the rooms while waiting for the rescue team.

One of the monks, Phra Channawat, said: ''The lizard was so aggressive that I thought it was about to attack us. We've never had one in the temple before. We think this one was looking for food because there's a shortage in the wild.''

Animal catchers stalked the 20kg reptile and managed to subdue it after 30 minutes.

It was tied and safely placed into a sack before two staff carried it out of the chapel to be released in the woods.

When superstitious locals heard about the incident in the morning, they rushed to the temple to see the lizard.

The locals asked the rescuers to lift the reptile and found spots on its belly that resembled the numbers 58 and 39. They used them for their lottery numbers as local beliefs suggest that animal encounters are lucky.