A massive python regurgitated a civet cat after it was rescued from the bottom of a deep well in western India last month.

A team led by Akash Jadhav from the Wildlife Rescue Society travelled to a village near Ahmednagar on August 21 where they found the stricken reptile still unable to climb the steep sides of the water source.

The team tried lowering a tyre down to the python hoping it would climb on and allow them to haul it to the surface.

After several unsuccessful attempts, they abandoned that strategy but then noticed the animal curling around a motorized pump to rest.

The rescuers seized the opportunity to pull the pump, pipe and the exhausted python to the surface.

Cornered and afraid the reptile then regurgitated its last meal hoping to make a speedy getaway.

The team placed the python in a bag and released it shortly afterward in a nearby forest.

“Pythons do not survive for long in the water. They are heavy and tend to drown. I am glad we could rescue it in time,” said Jadhav.

A python fell into a well after preying on a civet cat near Ahmednagar in western India on August 21.

The farmer, who owned the well, informed the Wildlife Rescue Society and a team led by Akash Jadhav went to rescue the snake.

Rescuers saw that the well had just mud walls, which could cave in under stress. So that made a rescuer climbing down the well to bring the python up very risky.

They lowered a used tyre into the well, and tried to slip around the python, and then pull it up. But the python dodged the tyre and after nearly an hour the team gave up the strategy.

Just then they saw the python, which was tired from the ordeal, swimming up to a motor pump and curling around it to rest. Seizing their chance, the rescuers gently pulled up the pipe along with the motor and the python.

The snake, though exhausted, still had the stamina to take a few swipes at the rescuers. As they cautiously watched, it regurgitated a civet cat it had killed before falling into the well. Snakes regurgitate prey when they feel cornered and want to get away quickly.

The python was bagged and released later at a nearby forest.

Akash said: “Pythons do not survive for long in water. They are heavy and tend to drown. I am glad we could rescue it on time.”