This is the dramatic moment shocked villagers found a newborn baby girl abandoned in a thicket in Thailand.

Weerachao Sawasdee, 62, said he was collecting trash to sell when he heard a baby crying in the forest near a railway track in Songkhla province on February 20 evening.

The superstitious local fled home and called his sisters to check with him, fearing a ghost had made the sounds.

However, when they parted the bushes and tall grass on the roadside, the horrified family discovered a live baby naked and covered in ants with its umbilical cord still attached.

They scooped up the abandoned child and rushed home to call medics.

The infant was rushed to the Songklanagarind Hospital, where it is being monitored by doctors.

Weerachao's sister Napatsorn Sawasdee, 45, told local media: 'We found the baby lying face-down in the dirt, with its legs spread in a frog-like position.

'There was a lot of dirt and leaves on its mouth and many ants crawling all over.

'After picking up the baby, we immediately rode back on our car to call for rescuers.'

The family posted photos of the baby on social media, hoping their friends and neighbours can help locate its mum.

Officers at the Thunglung Police Station said they have tracked down and arrested the negligent mum after her neighbour called in a tip.

The unnamed resident claimed that the woman had denied being pregnant despite her belly being visibly swollen.

She allegedly returned home one day with her stomach suspiciously deflated and blood staining her legs.

Residents had also claimed there was recently a blood puddle discovered in the public toilet of a local market, where the woman was believed to have given birth.

Speaking to police, the mum, who works as a chicken vendor, reportedly admitted to abandoning the child in the forest 'because she feared she could not support it.'

The woman was rushed to the hospital for postpartum haemorrhage while officers were preparing to take legal action.

The baby is currently being kept under state supervision and will be moved into care if the mother is unable to raise him.