A woman calmly caught a 4ft-long wild monitor lizard using bare hands before riding on a motorcycle with it.

Footage shows the female reptile handler casually tying a large lizard’s mouth and limbs after it was caught on a local’s property in And Thong province, Thailand on April 7.

She had to pin down the lizard with her knees as it was trying to wriggle away but eventually settled down in the hands of the skillful rescuer.

Animal rescuer Ratha Tapiantong then rode her two-wheeler while the reptile was resting on her shoulders to release it back into the wild.

Ratha said: 'Monitor lizards can be aggressive so I had to be careful. He probably came from a nearby canal.

'Please call us if you find wild animals in your backyard. Don’t handle them yourselves, we are the trained ones to do it.'

Monitor lizards are protected species in Thailand. They are a common sight in many areas across the country, even in the capital Bangkok’s canals and parks.