An aggressive king cobra fought animal rescuers who were trying to remove it from a family's home.

The venomous 6ft-long serpent was spotted coiling under the kitchen sink in Krabi province, Thailand on January 12.

A rescue team was called to the scene but when the creature saw the men, it expanded its hood and hissed loudly to threaten them.

Footage shows the wild snake evading the hook of the rescuer while appearing to be ready to attack at any time.

A rescue team member said: ‘A 60-year-old grandfather was using the toilet when he found the cat was looking at something.

‘He noticed the snake when he checked what the cat was doing. He told us that the cat fought with the snake but the feline was safe.'

The team believed that the cobra was afraid as it was hit by the cat several times before the team came to the scene.

Volunteers spent around ten minutes before successfully luring it into the sack. The cobra was later released into the forest.

Researchers found that 7,000 people are treated for snake bites each year in Thailand. Suchai Suteparuk from the Division of Toxicology at Chulalongkorn University reported that 30 of those die, with cobras being the biggest killer.