A cobra rescuer in western India had a close encounter when rescuing one snake that had fallen into a well when it decided to take a bite at him.

Residents of a village near Ahmednagar in western Maharashtra noticed an adult cobra inside a 60-feet well and thought it would climb up on its own.

When they noticed it was still inside the well after a few days, they made a call to Wildlife Rescue Society.

When Akash Jadhav and his team arrived at the village on October 19, 2019, they saw that the cobra had spent a few days inside the well, unable to climb out, and was thoroughly exhausted.

There was no time to lose and they immediately started their rescue work.

Team member Nawaz Shaikh went down the well with a harness and tried to pull it up with a stick.

But as he was dangling mid air in an awkward position, and the agitated snake wriggled to escape, almost reaching his hand to bite.

After a few heartstopping attempts, Nawaz dropped the snake and climbed up. He went back again and this time managed to safely catch it inside a bag. Akash and team released the snake in the wild later.

Akash said: “I am happy we rescued the snake on time. Any more delay would have been perhaps fatal to it. It was a very dangerous rescue.”