A baby monkey was rescued after it was found with its head stuck in a plastic jar.

The tiny long-tailed macaque was spotted with its distressed mother in the Phanthai Norasing nature reserve in Samut Songkhram province, Thailand, on July 23.

Concerned locals reported the creature's case to animal rescuers who searched for the troupe and caught the baby with its mother.

The officers used a scissors to cut the trash off the monkey's head and took the pair to their facility for rehabilitation.

Wildlife sanctuary director Werayut Ketsakul said: ‘The baby monkey was only one-month-old. He was spotted by locals with a troupe hanging out on a bridge.'

The baby monkey was immediately given a health examination and was found to have been starving due to being unable to eat for days.

Director Werayut added that the baby monkey might have been attracted to rummage in the jar after smelling something sweet inside.

He said: ‘The plastic jar was a candy container. The poor thing might have smelled the sugar inside but was stuck.'

Despite being famished and dehydrated, the creature had no apparent injuries but they would still be observed at the sanctuary's facility with its mum before they could be released back to the forest.

Thailand has been battling its plastic problem for years, urging the government to ban most single-use plastics this year. However, like other developing countries in the region such as the Philippines, the country continued to import plastic waste from other wealthier nations.

An estimated 250,000 tonnes of imported plastic enter the Southeast Asian country's doors annually in what environmentalists claims is an unethical albeit legal international plastic waste trade.