The baby dugong, which had ridden on the back of a giant green sea turtle in the Dong Tarn Bay, off Chon Buri province, has been found dead. The remains exhibited multiple wounds, believed to have been caused by a fishing net.
The tragic end of the baby dugong was reported on the Facebook page of the Sea Turtle Conservation Centre of the Royal Thai Navy on Thursday.
According to the report, the carcass of a young dugong was found floating in Sattahip Bay, in front of Thailand National Sailing Club. The remains were recovered and sent to the Eastern Coast Marine and Coastal Resource Research Centre for autopsy.
The animal, weighing less than 100kg, is believed to have died up to 2 days before it was found.
Suthep Jualaong, head of the research centre, said that the dead mammal is believed to be the same one which was seen recently with its surrogate mother, a giant green sea turtle, in Dong Tarn Bay.
A marine and environment expert, Assistant Professor Thon Thamrongnawasawat, from Kasetsart University, said in his Facebook post that “nature is cruel, but not as cruel as humans, who may be the real cause of its death,” adding that dugongs living in Sattahip Bay face extinction if nothing is done to save them.
He said that there were about five dugongs in the Sattahip Bay last year and three of them have been found dead.
