Distressing footage shows the moment a wild cat struggled to breath as a boa constrictor tightly wound itself around it and squeezed.
The jaguarundi almost died when it was recently targeted by the reptile in Las Lajitas, in the northwestern Argentina province of Salta – but thankfully, four quick-thinking locals were able to stage a rescue mission and save the animal’s life.
The heart-wrenching incident was brought to light when Sole Rojas, a forest ranger shared pictures online.
Speaking to local newspaper Clarin, she revealed that two unidentified workers were shocked to stumble the stand-off and acted immediately to release the cat from the snake’s coils.
She said that ‘between two people they managed to unwrap the boa and release the animal’, while two others also helped out in the operation .
Sole added: ‘People in the area know how to manipulate wild animals and this boa is not venomous’.
The jaguarundi can be found anywhere from southern Texas and coastal Mexico in the north to as far south as northern Argentina.
Males can grow up to 83 centimetres (32 inches) long and females up to 66 centimetres (26 inches).
It is forbidden to hunt the animals in Argentina, but they are often targeted by farmers as they are known to hunt livestock.
The boa constrictor occidentalis is considered a threatened subspecies as many hunters target it for its skin and for the pet trade.
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