Story By: Alex Cope, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

Video Credit: AsiaWire

This is the moment a rare endangered leopard stuck in a well is coaxed into a metal cage and lifted to safety.

The startling scenes were recorded in the village of Fakte in the Pune district of the Indian state of Maharashtra after Shirur Range Rescue volunteers were called to the scene when villagers spotted the male leopard (Panthera pardus) in the well.

In the video, the leopard can be seen sitting on a plank of wood which has been lowered into the water in the wide well. 

Pictures Credit: AsiaWire

The big cat attempts to climb out of the well but cannot scale the rocky walls.

A metal cage is then lowered to the water and the leopard swims towards it and climbs inside, with rescuers closing the door behind it, just hitting its hinds legs.

Footage taken from inside the cage shows the leopard, four years old, climbing inside and the cage is then lifted out of the well.

Footage shows the leopard baring its teeth in the cage after the rescue and local media report it was taken to the Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre o receive medical treatment.

The volunteers from Shirur Range Rescue believe the animal fell into the well by accident.

Leopards are listed as threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

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