This is the heroic moment a stranded calf was helped out of a stream by kind villagers in India.

Footage shows the distressed cow rescued by locals from a large drain in Housing Board Colony, Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh, on October 20. One of the rescuers first fed the bovine before it was pulled to safety using a rope.

The Atal Kamdhenu Gau Sewa Sansthan team, led by the NGO's chairman, Gaurav Mishra, assisted in the recovery.

In India, devout locals follow Hindu customs, with cows regarded as sacred animals that cannot be eaten or slaughtered once they have stopped producing milk. The majority of states ban the sale or slaughter of cows.

Instead of dealing with the economic burden of keeping their spent cattle, many farmers let the beasts roam the streets - leading to chaos when the animals become agitated and turn their fury on humans.