An extremely unfortunate Victorian farmer is going to have to spend his weekend explaining that his cuts, bruises and hospitalisation was caused by a fight...with a goanna.
Although it's mildly amusing, Bailey Dawson's ordeal sounds awful. The goanna didn't just beat up the guy. He followed him, came up behind him and pounced, latching onto his arm.
"I had just finished baiting up my yabby pots down at the dam and was returning to my car when I saw a one-and-a-half metre goanna on the track looking at me," Dawson told Daily Mail Australia.
"I thought it would be a pretty cool photo so I started heading back to my car and the goanna disappeared," he said. But not for long. Soon, it reappeared behind him.
"I turned around and the goanna had reared up on to it's back legs and was hissing at me," he told the Mail.
The lizard then latched on to Dawson's arm, clamping down and refusing to let go.
Mr Dawson is from Victoria's Rutherglen just near the New South Wales border. He told Channel 7 News that he got down on top of the lizard in a bid to fight it off. The wrestling match lasted two minutes before he finally managed to escape.
"It was a bit scary actually. When I got on top of it, it was whipping its tail around. It knocked my sunnies off my head, slapped me in the face... bit like a whip," Dawson said.
According to Channel 7, Dawson said that he thought the goanna chased after him because of the meat he was using to catch yabbies.
The poor bloke then spent the night in hospital having treatment for his wounds after the beast bit him not once, but four times.
According to the Australian Walkabout Wildlife Park's website, a goanna's tail can swing like a crocodile and has been known to knock down small children and animals.
"Alarmed goannas can mistake standing humans for trees and attempt to climb off the ground to safety, which is understandably painful, as well distressing for both man and beast," the website said.