A skilful snake wrangler showed how to catch a deadly cobra with his bare hands in southern Thailand.

Footage shows the reptile specialist swaying his head while maintaining eye contact with the snake to distract it while slowly gripping its neck in Krabi province on May 11.

The man in the video Jakrayuth Wapha, 29, was called to catch the 3ft-long cobra found slithering inside an old lady’s grocery store.

Jakrayuth then amazed onlookers as he did the professional technique of handling the venomous creature without any special gear.

He said: ‘People need to be trained before trying it. You need to understand the nature of each species before interacting with them or it will be dangerous.

‘I grabbed the cobra while I was in front of it because it was becoming more alert. I had to look for a good opportunity to grab it gently.’

The snake was placed inside a sack and was taken by the rescue team to release it later back into the wild away from the village.

The old lady who owns the store Naew, 79, thanked the team and said that the snake was catching a mouse when it slithered into her property.

She said: ‘The cobra was chasing a mouse into my store. It eventually caught the smaller animal and swallowed it. I then told my daughter who called the emergency services.’