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This heartwarming footage sees a desperate leopard saved from drowning in a deep well thanks to the help of village pulling together.

As the footage shows the three-year-old cat was desperately clinging on to a few sticks and was crying for help.

She had been stuck down the 60ft deep well for hours when a woman heard her distressed howling and raced to help.

Volunteers from the Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre, which is run by the non-profit animal advocacy organisation Wildlife SOS arrived.

A Wildlife SOS spokesman said: "The terrified leopard was on the verge of drowning and was desperately clinging onto a rope to stay afloat."

With the help of dozens of locals from the Pimpalgaon Siddhanath village, in west central India, they lowered a cage for the animal to jump into.

The animal can't get a firm hold to leap to safety at first and can be seen clinging on with her claws.

(Image: Wildlifesos.org)

But she eventually manages to throw herself inside before being pulled up and out of the well.

Luke Dollar, a conservation biologist who runs National Geographic's Big Cats Initiative said: "This is an incredible, heartwarming story of a community coming together for the benefit of wildlife.

"So often we see that when people and big cats come into contact, it is not nearly so positive for wildlife."