A snake catcher has a tug-of-war with an seven-foot long python - after it tried to escape down a hole.

Animal centre workers were called after residents spotted the serpent slithering through paddy fields in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand.

A rescue worker grabbed the serpent as it darted down a burrow in the bank of a wooden ditch.

As the snake used all of its strength to hide in the depths, the man yanked it back out to be bagged up and driven away into the jungle.

Onlooker Chawin Thodok, 30, who works at the emergency rescue service, said: ‘’The snakes can try to hide but we will catch them. They are strong but it didn’t take a long time to get this one once my colleague pulled its tail.

‘’The snake was about 200cm long or a little bit more.

‘’The snake was taken to the trees away from homes and put back into the wild without harming it.''