Trapped for hours in darkness, the leopard’s silent suffering ended only when kind villagers freed him with trembling hands.

This is the amazing scene after a leopard gets its head stuck in a metal pot while searching for water.

This is the image of a leopard stuck in a pot in the Indian village of Sardul Kheda in Rajasthan earlier today

Locals stood around filming the unfortunate animal as it struggled inside the pot for five hours

The animal’s ordeal lasted for approximately five hours before it was eventually freed.

The leopard stuck his head in the pot in the search of some water but was unable to remove it afterwards

A wildlife expert shot the leopard with a tranquiliser dart so they could remove the aluminum pot

The animal will be given time to recover before it is released into a heavily wooded area away from people

It is believed that the animal may have escaped from a nearby wildlife reserve hunting for food and water

Local forestry experts said the animal survived its ordeal completely unharmed