An eight-year-old girl was left traumatized and with deep cuts to her leg after falling victim to a monitor lizard attack on South Stradbroke Island on Australia's Gold Coast on Thursday.

The large lizard clamped onto the young child's leg and caused significant injuries to her foot during the vicious incident. The attacker is believed to have been a goanna, a species of monitor lizard that can grow up to 6 feet (1.8 meters) in length.

Several passersby had to grapple with the lizard and prize open its jaws to free the girl.

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“At the time, it was quite difficult to get the goanna off the child and needed a couple of people involved to actually remove it from her foot,” senior operations supervisor Jayney Shearman said to local media.

The girl, who is “very distressed” following the incident, received a “nasty deep laceration” to her right foot in what Sherman described as a “very nasty and savage attack.”

The child was rushed via boat to a nearby hospital on the mainland for treatment. She is now in a stable condition.

Enter local snake catcher Tony Harrison, who was called in to tame the beast and relocate it away from potential future victims.

Harrison himself sustained a rather nasty cut trying to tame the ‘dragon’.

Goanna bites can be particularly dangerous as the carnivorous lizards typically feed on carrion which can create a build up of toxic bacteria in their mouths which can prolong pain, swelling and bleeding following an attack.

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