Hapless monitor lizard rescued after getting stuck 'spread-eagle' climbing gate

This monitor lizard was rescued after trying to climb a steel gate - and getting stuck spread-eagled doing the splits.

The crafty lizard was trying to escape from a front yard by scaling the 8ft high metal gate in Bangkok, Thailand, on Monday night (June 10).

But the creature appears to have slipped - leaving his rare legs spread 180 degrees open while getting firmly stuck in the awkward position.

Residents called the local rescue foundation after noticing the huge monitor lizard stuck between the metal bars.

Volunteers of Poh Teck Tung Foundation climbed up to reach the reptile but failed to save it because it was too heavy to be carried.

The six-feet-long monitor lizard was eventually rescued twenty minutes after its body was tied with a big lasso and slowly carried out from the spiked fence.

Officials tied its legs with the rope to stop it from becoming violent and sent the lizard to the vets as its tail was partly injured from the struggle.

A volunteer said: ''We’ll wait for the monitor lizard to fully recover which might take serval days and we’ll release it back into the wild.''