Forest department crews used saws to remove a metal pot from a rare leopard's head after it was stuck for more than five hours.

Smartphone footage recorded in the Dhule district of Maharashtra, western India, shows the frightened animal struggling to break free in a cow shed of a farm when it entered to search for food and water on Sunday, March 3.

The feline was reportedly trying to drink some water from the metal pot when its head became stuck inside it, local media reported.

Villagers noticed the leopard at around 2 am, five hours after it its head was trapped in the metal pot, and immediately alerted the forest department.

A vet then tranquilised the animal before it was transferred to the forest department's office where a specialised team sawed the pot off its head.

The end of the clip showed the leopard hissing at forest crews from inside a cage with the pot no longer covering its sight. It was reportedly let into the wild after being kept under observation for several hours.

Wildlife Officer Savita Sonawane said: 'A male leopard spent five hours with its head stuck in a metal vessel in a village in Dhule district.

'It was later rescued by the Forest department.'

The leopard population in India has grown from 12,852 in 2018, to 13,874 in 2022, according to the 'Status of Leopards in India 2022' report, released by the Union Environment Ministry on February 29.