This is the shocking moment a wild monitor lizard tried to escape through a toilet bowl when it was caught inside a house in Thailand.

The reptile laid motionless inside the bowl before trying to burrow into the u-bend in Samut Prakan province on February 1.

Startled house owner Kanchana Khaobphet then poured a bucket of water to help the reptile down but the animal changed its mind and climbed up again.

Kanchana said she called the animal rescuers to take the lizard out of his property afterwards.

He said: ‘When I entered the toilet, the monitor lizard was already there standing still as if it was thinking of a way out. It tried to enter the toilet bowl but when I flushed it down it climbed back up.’

The lizard was finally caught and released by the animal rescuers who responded to the house owner’s call.