This five-foot long wild python was caught after causing traffic chaos - on a motorway bridge.

The stray serpent sparked panic from passing drivers when it slithered onto the tarmac in Samut Prakan, Thailand, on Sunday afternoon.

Rescuers arrived and lassoed the road-hogging reptile which writhed angrily as it tried to avoid capture.

But the reticulated python was eventually bagged up and driven several miles away to forests where he was released.

Snake catcher Anyawut Phoampai from the Ruamkatanyu Foundation said: ''We received a call to say the snake was moving along the road onto the bridge. When he arrived he was curled up on the side.

''It was a dangerous situation for the snake because a car could easily have hit him and it might have caused a crash.

''I don't know where he had come from or where he was going to. But he is safe now. It was successful team work to capture him.''