A hapless monitor lizard was found stuck between a motorcycle wheel and the rear fender while trying to escape from dogs in Thailand.

Rider Vornsit Nugunekarn was on his way to work in Roi Et province on April 30 when he encountered a pack of stray dogs surrounding the reptile. He moved closer and found it was a monitor lizard, which had wounds on its torso after the canines ganged up on it.

Vornsit chased away the dogs to help the reptile escape but was shocked when it made a beeline for his motorcycle upon finding an opening. The terrified lizard then climbed up the wheel and crammed itself under the bike's rear fender. Fearing it would bite him, Vornsit decided to leave the animal alone.

Later, he noticed that the lizard was bleeding from its abdomen, and he could hear its laboured breathing. He lured it out using a wooden stick and left it on the roadside since he needed to go to work.

He Vornsit said: 'After I finished work in the afternoon, I went back to check on the monitor lizard, but it was nowhere to be seen.'

The motorcycle rider added that superstitious people who saw his video asked him for the motorbike's license plate, believing them to be lucky numbers thanks to his encounter with the lizard.