This is the moment a man and his pals save his pet dog from being squeezed to death by a huge anaconda.

The incident took place in the municipality of Barrinha in the south-eastern Brazilian state of Sao Paulo on 31st July.

The footage shows how rodeo announcer Carlinhos Brasil saves his pet dog named Lion from the anaconda’s deadly embrace.

Carlinhos told local media: “The anaconda grabbed him in the Nova Alianca neighbourhood. He went to drink water at a shallow pool there.

“I hit the anaconda so it would release him. The guys said ‘oh, if only I had a knife…’ No. It’s a wild animal, it was hungry. Lion was there drinking water and it grabbed him.”

The footage shows how Carlinhos hits the big snake on the head with a stick in the hope that it releases Lion.

His brave efforts paid off, with the anaconda finally releasing his pet dog after a minutes-long struggle.

However, the battle was not yet over, as by the time the snake had let him go, Lion was unconscious.

Carlinhos said: “I spent around 40 minutes giving him a (cardiac) massage and he came back. I thought I’d lost my dog, but thank God he’s here.”

Carlinhos revealed that Lion only had a few wounds on its neck, ear and muzzle. He took him to a veterinarian, who gave the pooch a checkup and found him to be in good health.

There are four species of anaconda, and it is likely the one in question was a yellow anaconda (Eunectes notaeus) or green anaconda (Eunectes murinus).

The latter is the heaviest and one of the longest known extant snake species. Its mean length is 4.6 metres (15.1 ft).