A monitor lizard that wandered into a local coffee shop was captured and released into the wild on Saturday in Pu'er City, southwest China's Yunnan Province.

The lizard, which was spotted in the coffee shop on Thursday, is a Varanus salvator, under first-class national protection in China.

"We received a call saying that there might be a snake sneaking into a local coffee house. We arrived at the scene only to see lizard in the sewer. When we asked the owner where the lizard came from, the owner said they didn't know. It might sneak into their shop through the sewer line," said Deng Zhaohua, a firefighter.

The firefighters caught the lizard and sent it to the local forest police. Experts confirmed it to be a common monitor lizard under first-class protection in the country.