A snake rescuer in western India had his hands full recently when he came up against a highly aggressive cobra.

Workers at a nursery in Pune called Saidas Kusal after sighting a large snake on the premises.

Kusal quickly located the 5-food-long reptile which immediately began to hiss and strike.

After a few tense moments, Kusal held his nerve and caught the cobra before releasing it shortly afterwards away from humans.

“This was an unusually aggressive cobra. It posed a real danger to the people working here," Kusal said.

Workers at a new nursery at Pune in western India saw a huge cobra under a crate used to grow saplings on June 10.

Snake rescuer Saidas Kusal went to the nursery in response to their call for help.

As he started poking around the crater to find the snake, the cobra started hissing, warning him to stay away.

Then, sensing trouble, it left its hiding place and fled. When Saidas ran behind and caught its tail, the five-feet long cobra turned on him and tried to take a swipe at him.

A few tense moments of unexpected faceoff between the snake and its rescuer followed. Saidas, an experienced rescuer, kept his nerve and caught the cobra, which was later released in the wild.

Saidas said: “This was an unusually aggressive cobra. It posed a real danger to the people working here.”