The search for the second giraffe, which escaped from its cage as it was being transported from Suvarnabhumi international airport to a zoo in Thailand’s eastern province of Prachin Buri on Tuesday night, has ended with the animal being found dead in a roadside canal in Chachoengsao province.

The animal was found half-submerged in the canal, which was covered with lotus plants, along the Road 304 between Bang Khla and Phanok Sarakham in Chachoengsao province. 

Villagers in living near the canal said there was a strong stench of something rotten emanating from the canal, where they found the giraffe and alerted the police.

Officials at Safari World open zoo said that the giraffe, which had been shot with a tranquillizer dart, might have passed out and fallen into the canal and drowned.

The other giraffe was recaptured hours afterward, but the second escaped and the search was launched. 

Rescue workers and zoo officials, with the help of three light aircraft from a private flying club, joined the search in a ten-kilometre radius of the airport, but had they failed to locate the animal.