A reticulated python bit wranglers as they battled to remove it from a shop.

Shop employee Wilai Phonjaroen, 32, discovered the 10ft (3m) snake behind a PC desk, initially mistaking it for a stray cat in Chanthaburi, Thailand, on November 5.

CCTV footage shows the woman standing on a chair, using a flashlight to peer beneath the desk. Upon seeing the snake, she quickly called for assistance in removing the reptile.

When the rescue team arrived, they managed to capture the 15lbs (7kg) snake, though it resisted, wrapping around one of the officials' arms and eventually biting his hand, causing blood to spill on the ground.

Once the python was removed, the injured wrangler treated his wound with first aid.

Wilai speculated that the python might have been drawn in by the scent of a cat or dog.

She said: 'I thought it might have been hunting for a mouse, as there's a ditch behind the store near the market.'

Reticulated pythons are nonvenomous constrictors that prey on various animals, including rodents, birds, lizards, and mammals. They lack fangs and subdue prey by constriction, swallowing them whole.