NEW DELHI - The old saying about man biting dog being news takes a new twist this time. Replace the animal with a snake.

A gardener in India bit a snake to death in India on Saturday.

Ramesh Jamda, 25, chewed the reptile to death after it bit his thumb as he was mowing grass in Orissa's capital Bhubaneswar.

He said he felt a sharp pain as a 30cm-long rat snake sank its fangs into him. It refused to dislodge itself as Ramesh tried to shake it off.

Bite and kill

The gardener managed to free itself after taking a scissor to the reptile.

Still in shock, pain and anger, the man picked up the snake and bit it from its tail upwards, the Telegraph newspaper reported today.

Rat snakes are non-venomous but they can deliver a nasty bite.