A critically injured cobra that was saved by soldiers is now recovering at a military base in Thailand.

Footage shows vets and troops tending to the bandaged 16ft leviathan at the Sichon Special Combat Training Camp in Nakhon Si Thammarat province on February 15.

Soldiers had found the cobra wounded with its internal organs spilling out from its ruptured skin following a fight with a dog a day earlier.

Veterinarian Dr Piyaporn Wattanapan of the Sichon Animal Hospital then operated on the reptile at the Sichon Animal Hospital, removing its reproductive organs to prevent an infection.

She said: 'The vets who visited the cobra reported that its tail is still swollen. We're hoping that it won't develop gangrene.

'We need to continue administering medicine and monitoring its condition.'

Dr Piyaporn added that the cobra may be ready to be released into the wild in two weeks if its condition improves.

In the meantime, the soldiers will be dressing its wounds and giving it medicine.

Researchers found that 7,000 people are treated for snake bites each year in Thailand. Suchai Suteparuk from the Division of Toxicology at Chulalongkorn University reported that 30 of those die, with cobras being the biggest killer.