Panicked residents were shocked to find a venomous cobra in a papaya tree at their home in Bhubaneswar, India, on April 1, 2018.

The residents were trying to get a few papayas for dinner and were shocked to find a four-and-a-half-foot-long cobra perched among the leaves.

They called the Snake Helpline, a volunteer organisation and a snake rescue team led by Subhendu Mallik.

Extricating the cobra from the tree was a challenge as the papaya tree wasn’t strong enough to support the weight of a person climbing it.

There were also tense moments when the cobra wriggled to free itself when they tried to catch it and it came within striking distance of Mallik’s legs.

The cobra was eventually captured and released safely in its natural habitat.

An extremely venomous adult Indian cobra was rescued from a home in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India, on April 1.

The residents of the home, who tried to get a few papayas for dinner, were shocked to find a 4.5 feet long cobra perched among the leaves.

The panicked residents called Snake Helpline, a volunteer organisation, and a rescue team led by Subhendu Malik rushed to the spot.

Extricating the cobra from the tree was a challenge as the papaya tree was not strong enough to support the weight of anyone climbing it.

Subhendu decided to climb an adjoining boundary wall of over 10 feet and try to reach out to the cobra from there.

While it was not easy to capture the cobra while standing on a wall, the snake made the rescue more difficult. It got nervous and flared up its hood to strike at anything that approached it.

But the gambit worked and Subhendu managed to pluck the cobra with the help of a snake stick.

There were tense moments when the cobra wriggled to free itself and came within the striking distance of his legs.

It was later safely released in its natural habitat.

Subhendu said: “During my 16 years of work, I rescued a cobra from a papaya tree for the first time.”