Feb. 21 (UPI) -- A French waitress earned the nickname "Goanna Girl" after dragging a large reptile out of an Australian restaurant.
Mimosa Wines, a winery in New South Wales, shared video of 25-year-old waitress Samia Lila as she grabbed the goanna by the tail and dragged it out of the restaurant.
"Unwelcome visitor in the restaurant today was no match for French waitress Samia," the winery said.
Lila's boss Glenn Butson said she had only seen a goanna for the first time four days earlier and she believed dragging them away by the tail wasn't an unusual occurrence in Australia.
"I recently told her a story about a goanna trapped in our shower and how I picked it up by the tail and carried it outside," he said. "She just thought that's what Aussies do when a goanna comes inside."
Lila said she thought the animal was a dog when a customer first pointed it out to her, but was undeterred after realizing it was actually a goanna.
"I looked at it and thought it was a dog at first," she said. "But then I realized it was a goanna ... I wasn't scared, I like reptiles so was a bit excited."
The goanna desperately tried to avoid capture by weaving underneath tables and chairs and digging its claws into the wooden floor.
"Every time he tried to reach me, I just lift him up. He's quite heavy," Lila told ABC News. "I just figured if I do this, he's never going to reach my hand, and I was just focused on his mouth."
Despite the struggle Lila managed to drag the reptile back into the wild as patrons cheered her for her bravery.
