Dillip Manna, a resident of Balasore, eastern India, couldn't find his cat on May 30th.

When he went looking for her in his backyard, he found her sitting next to a snake which was trapped in a plastic tube and appeared to be alive but motionless.

The cat who is usually aggressive and a good hunter was meowing occasionally to draw his attention.

Dillip called Snake Helpline, who sent a volunteer, Shyamalendu Aditya, to rescue the snake.

Shyamalendu found that the rat snake was in great distress.

It had tried to slip through a discarded plastic tube in the wild and was trapped.

The tube was choking the snake causing it to gasp for air.

Shyamlendu gently picked up the 5.5 feet snake and cut the plastic tube with a pair of scissors. He then applied an antiseptic ointment to the snake's bruises and released it in a suitable natural habitat.

Founder of Snake Helpline, Subhendu Mallik, said: "The snake was lucky as we could rescue it in time. The striking aspect of this rescue was the cat which sat next to the suffering snake, observing instead of attacking it.”

“This shows that animals can also respond with compassion,” he added.

Dillip Manna, a resident of a village Balasore, eastern India, sensed that his cat ‘Chinky’ had gone missing on May 30.

When he went looking for it in his backyard, he saw her sitting next to a snake, which was trapped in a plastic tube, and appeared to be alive but motionless.

Chinky, who is usually aggressive and a good hunter, was meowing occasionally to draw his attention.

Dillip called Snake Helpline, which sent a volunteer, Shyamalendu Aditya, to rescue the snake.

Shyamalendu found that the rat snake was in great distress. It had tried to slip through a discarded plastic tube in the wild and was badly trapped in that. The tube was choking the snake, which was gasping for breaths with its mouth wide open.

Shyamlendu gently picked up the 5.5 feet snake and cut the plastic tube with a pair of scissors. He then applied an antiseptic ointment to the snake's bruises and released it snake in a suitable natural habitat.

Founder of Snake Helpline, Subhendu Mallik, said: The snake was lucky as we could rescue it on time. The striking aspect of this rescue was the cat which sat next to the suffering snake, observing instead of attacking it.”

“This shows that animals can also respond with compassion,” he added.