Animal rescuers were forced to wrestle with a large python in Thailand’s Chachoengsao province after a woman found it hiding in her bedroom as it hunted her pet kitten.

Kesinee Jittakit, about 53 years old, was going to bed at night when she heard the serpent hissing. 

The terrified mother-of-two leapt up in fright and saw the 10ft long snake hiding under a table, reports the Daily Mail.

She fled the house in and called police who sent a team of snake catchers.

The men found the reptile hiding behind shoe boxes as it waited to pounce the pet cat, named Mandalay. 

The rescuers grappled with the snake as it writhed angrily and tried to escape.

They eventually snared the creature using a pole and a noose, then crammed it into a sack to be released safely back into the wild. 

Shaked Kesinee said: ‘I was just going to bed and I saw the huge snake. It scared me more than I’ve ever been before. 

‘I’m scared of sleeping in the bedroom now. I’ll just stay on the sofa for a little while. ‘I’m happy it’s gone now and that my pet cat Mandalay is safe.’

Rescuers said that the monsoon rainy season is likely to have caused the snake to flee its natural habitat before it saw Kesinee’s kitten and entered the house to try and catch it.