CHON BURI: The carcass of a dugong, a rare marine mammal known as payoon in Thai, was found floating in Sattahip bay in Sattahip district on Tuesday.
The discovery came less than two days after the discovery of another dead dugong in Chaiya district of Surat Thani.
Marine police, along with personnel from the Sattahip Municipality and the navy's rare marine animals help centre, boarded a patrol boat after local fishermen reported the sighting of the dead mammal.
The dead payoon was floating not very far from the marine police's boat pier that juts into the bay. The dugong was female, about 6-7 years of age, about 3 metres long and weighed about 300 kilogrammes.
The carcass was brought ashore for an autopsy to establish the cause of death.
Local fishermen said they occasionally saw the rare payoon, which is thought to be near extinction, swimming in a group in Sattahip bay in front of the navy's Abhakornkiatiwong Hospital and Sattahip Naval Base.
