This the moment terrified locals caught an escaped crocodile after it rampaged through a village.<br /><br />Shocked residents noticed the 8-foot-long beast crawling into a bush in the street in Saraburi, central Thailand on Tuesday (July 2).<br /><br />They called the emergency services and told them it was a baby monitor lizard. But when the rescue worker arrived they were horrified to find a killer crocodile, which had broken free from a farm in Pak Phriao subdistrict.<br /><br />Reinforcements arrived with catching equipment after the team was too scared to tackle the reptile alone.<br /><br />Footage shows how five volunteers were slowly approaching the crocodile with lassos but the young croc shook them off and fled quickly to the house nearby.<br /><br />The team then began their second attempt. Two rescuers were holding the croc's tail and his neck with a lasso while the other brought a cloth to cover his eyes, preventing him from being panicked during the ordeal.<br /><br />The croc's mouth was taped shut before the officers could recapture him and take him back to the farm.<br /><br />The rescue foundation said in a statement: ''We were very surprised when seeing the crocodile instead of a small lizard. None of us had experienced catching it before, so it was quite challenging.<br /><br />''The crocodile was not injured during the rescue, so we safely returned him to the owner.''
