Watch Venomous Snake get Pulled Out of Car Engine

Footage showing a venomous snake being pulled out from a car engine in Australia has been released by snake catchers, who were called to a property in New South Wales after a snake sighting.

The snake removal service, Australian Snake Catchers, said in a Facebook post that the 4ft red-bellied black snake was seen popping its head out from underneath a car parked on a front lawn in the suburb of Llandilo.

But on the arrival reptile handlers, the snake had made its way into the car's engine bay.

"Snakes will seek shelter in lots of places including cars as they are purely defensive creatures," Sean Cade, from the Australian Snake Catchers, told Newsweek. "There have been many cases where we have to remove snakes from cars mainly due to people attempting to approach or harm or catch the snake and it retreats into the car's engine bay or underneath parts of the car. And the odd one or two inside the car."

The video shows a reptile handler attempting to ease the snake out from its hiding place in the car's engine bay with a hook. The red-bellied snake then emerges from the hood, as the handler takes a hold of its tail.

The snake then lunges at the hook and bites it, seemingly becoming agitated at having been disturbed. The company described the catch as a "tricky removal with an unhappy snake."

"In this case the snake was originally underneath the car attempting to get some shade but due to the activity by the homeowners, it retreated upwards into the engine bay," Cade said. "It's always a tricky removal when dealing with a highly venomous snake in a confined space."

From time to time people don't know the snake is in the engine bay unless it goes near the fan or the belts, Cade said. He added that the snakes that hide in car engine bays are generally safe. Once the car reaches its destination the snake tends to leave the vehicle due to its movements.

Once Australian Snake Catchers remove a snake, they always release them back into a "suitable environment" unless they are injured, in which case they are taken for treatment.

According to the Australian government the red-bellied black snake, scientifically known as pseudechis porphyriacus, is not usually aggressive however it is venomous.

It will usually retreat before attacking, although when it is threatened it will raise its body from the ground, flatten its neck, hiss and perform a series of strikes.

There have been no recorded human deaths as a result of a red-bellied black snake bite to date in Australia.