Amrit Sharma, a resident of Sunabeda in eastern India, was getting ready to go to work when he reached for his shoes and heard a 'hiss' sound coming from one of them.

When he looked closely he was shocked to find a yellow cobra curled up inside a shoe and staring back at him.

He immediately called a local Snake Helpline volunteer Sujit Kumar Mohanty, who rushed to his house and removed the 2.5-foot-long cobra from the shoe.

Snake Helpline General Secretary Subhendu Mallik said: “We have seen frogs waiting inside shoes looking for insects and snakes may enter shoes to hunt them. People who keep shoes outside should check before putting them on.”

The cobra was later released in its natural habitat.

Amrit Sharma, a resident of Sunabeda in eastern India, was getting ready for office on May 14.

When he reached for his shoes, he heard a ‘hiss’ sound coming from one of them.

When he looked closely he was shocked to find a yellow cobra curled up inside a shoe and staring back at him.

He immediately called a local Snake Helpline volunteer Sujit Kumar Mohanty, who rushed to his house, and rescued a 2.5 ft long cobra from a shoe.

The cobra was later released in its natural habitat away from human habitation.

Snake Helpline General Secretary Subhendu Mallik said: “We have seen frogs waiting inside shoes looking for insects and snakes may enter shoes to hunt them. People who keep shoes outside should check before putting them on.”