A cobra spat up a smaller snake during its rescue after it took shelter in a storeroom in eastern India on September 6.

The five-foot-long cobra, found in Berhampur, Odisha state had just finished a heavy meal and was moving slowly.

As rescuer Tara Prasad Das watched, it started regurgitating its meal, another three-foot-long cobra, to lighten up and make a quick getaway.

Das put it in a snake bag and later released it in a nearby forest.

Snake Helpline founder, Subhendu Mallik, said: "Cobras are known cannibals. It is not rare to see a large cobra feeding on a smaller one.”