A headless dugong was found floating in a canal near a pier in Thalang district of Phuket on Thursday. It is the third dead dugong to be found along the Andaman coast this month.
Officials from the marine resources research centre in Phuket were alerted by fishermen in Pa Khlok sub-district yesterday and a team rushed to the scene to investigate.
They found that the headless mammal was already in a state of decomposition. It weighed about 250kg and was 223cm long, minus its head.
Officials say they think that the dugong was probably caught and was decapitated for its tusks, which are sought after as talismans.
The first dead dugong was found on November 3rd, on a beach on Sukorn Island off Trang province. It was diagnosed as suffering from malnutrition.
The second was found on November 8th, in the sea off Khao Thong sub-district. Its two tusks were also found to be missing.
Dugongs are classified as an endangered species in Thailand and are mostly found in the seas off Trang province, due to the abundance of seagrass. Lately, however, seagrass has been disappearing, reportedly due to sea warming, forcing many dugongs to migrate to the seas off Phuket in search of new feeding grounds.
