An 88-lb python was found in the sheepfold after it was unable to escape after eating a lamb.

The huge snake was later captured by firemen who took it into the woods with forestry officials to release it after it was found by the farmer in Hechi, which is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The snake had slithered in with the sheep in their pen when it spotted the pint-sized lamb that had just been born and turned into its supper on 15th June.

When the farmer realised what had happened and that the snake was a protected species, he called firemen who arranged for it to be captured and put in a bag from where it was then delivered back into the wild.

Snakes can take up to four months to digest a meal, so it will not be in any hurry to feast on another lamb any time soon.

According to measurements, the python was more than three meters (9.8 feet) long and weighed about 40 kilos (88 lbs).

They said the farmer did the right thing as the snake is a national second-level wild protected animal.

The firefighters handed the snake over to the Donglan County Forestry Bureau who were responsible for releasing it.

Online commentators like ‘Relieved’ said: “Why is this thing a national protected animal? It’s so scary.”

And user ‘Half Awake Half Floating’ said: “So big.”

While the user ‘That Sunset’ said: “It will still eat the farmer’s chickens and ducks after releasing it.”