Pushed to starvation by disappearing seagrass, Thailand’s dugongs—a type of sea cow—may now number fewer than 150. But an ambitious new collaboration headed by World Animal Protection is restoring their habitat, empowering communities, and giving the species a fighting chance to survive.
When rescuers found an orphaned dugong drifting in the shallows off Krabi in April 2019, she was no more than a few months old. Videos of Marium, as she came to be known, bonding with her carers went viral, and soon millions of Thai people were following her recovery. But despite devoted care, she died just four months later from an intestinal infection caused by ingested plastic.
Thailand’s animal-loving netizens were outraged, spurring the government to declare August 17—the day Marium passed—National Dugong Day. “The government will not leave anyone behind, and that includes animals,” then-Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha was reported to have said in the Bangkok Post.
Krabi—neighboring the better-known Phuket—lies along Thailand’s 466-mile (750-kilometer) Andaman Coast, a turquoise sea that curls around jungle-topped islets. However, the postcard-perfect views above conceal a crisis that threatens to stall the country’s renewed dugong conservation momentum.
While dugongs are found elsewhere in Thailand, the Andaman Coast is home to the country’s largest population. “There were about 250 dugongs a few years ago, and now the population has been decimated,” says John Lucas, head of fundraising at World Animal Protection (WAP), an international nonprofit organization dedicated to animal welfare. “There are probably about 150 left.”
Known in Thai as พะยูน (phayūn), the dugong is a shy, mammalian, seagrass-grazing cousin of the manatee, with a rounded body, paddle-like flippers and a soft, whiskered face. Females are pregnant for 13–14 months, give birth once or twice a decade, and nurse their calves for up to two years—a nurturing nature that may have inspired local mermaid legends.
Construction run-off, river dredging, agricultural chemicals and poorly managed waste all smother the seagrass meadows. According to WAP, dugong autopsies in 2020 revealed abnormalities in their digestive and respiratory systems, and 86 percent of diagnosed dugong deaths were linked to pollution.
However, their constant grazing (adults can eat up to 30 kilograms of seagrass a day) earned them the less glamorous English nickname ‘sea cow.’ Together these traits underscore the species’ vulnerability: Dugongs are slow to reproduce and cannot survive without healthy seagrass meadows.
Dugongs are also key for marine ecosystems and coastal communities that rely on fishing. Their grazing helps maintain seagrass meadows by keeping the grass short and spreading seed. This supports nurseries for fish, crabs and shrimp, while the meadows also act as carbon sinks that help mitigate climate change.
“Dugongs are like a barometer of the marine ecosystem,” says Lucas. “Where you have healthy seagrass, you have fish, you have dugongs, and people can make a living.”
Today, dugongs are listed as vulnerable to extinction by the The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The species has already vanished from parts of the world—dugongs were declared functionally extinct in Chinese waters in 2022—and Australia, home to the world’s largest population, reports continued declines.
One of the main drivers of their decline in the Andaman Sea stems from the loss of their food source. Seagrass is sensitive to disruption, and Trang—south of Krabi, and dubbed the ‘Dugong Capital of Thailand’—has seen plenty: Construction run-off, river dredging, agricultural chemicals and poorly managed waste all smother the meadows. According to WAP, dugong autopsies in 2020 revealed abnormalities in their digestive and respiratory systems, and 86 percent of diagnosed dugong deaths were linked to pollution.
As southern seagrass meadows shrink, dugongs have begun migrating north to areas like Phuket and Phang Nga, places where they were rarely seen in the past. Their arrival reflects clear evidence of the crisis—but it also presents an opportunity.
“These northern areas could become long-term dugong habitats because they still have rich seagrass,” says Khemratch Amornwatpong, an environmental scientist with more than three decades’ experience with wildlife NGOs, a master’s in environmental management, and now regional campaign manager at WAP.
But a change of habitat doesn’t always mean a change of fortune.
“A big threat now is boat propellers. In new areas where dugongs migrate, fishermen and tourist boats don’t know they’re there, so accidents happen,” says Amornwatpong. According to WAP, contact with boats and ensnarement in fishing nets were responsible for nearly a quarter of recorded losses between 2020 and 2023.
For an animal that reproduces as slowly as the dugong, the cumulative effect is existential. “We were approached by partners who said, ‘We’ve got to do something or they’ll go extinct’,” says Lucas. “That’s what motivated us.”
In response, a major three-year initiative is underway. The goal is ambitious: To restore up to 800,000 square metres of seagrass across four key sites in Phuket and Phang Nga where dugongs are now migrating, and to build long-term protection systems to secure a healthy future for the dugong.
WAP is also designing responsible tourism experiences focused on education and participation. Visitors may learn about marine ecosystems, join planting sessions, or observe drone-based dugong monitoring. There may even be a chance to see a dugong—but that’s not the purpose.
The initiative is partly funded by a recent Impact grant of USD$32,713 (AUD$50,000) from The Intrepid Foundation, the charitable arm of Intrepid Travel.
“It’s inspiring to hear how our NGO partners plan to use these grants to create impact on the ground,” says Biheng Zhang, general manager at The Intrepid Foundation. “What makes it even more special is that this funding is largely thanks to travelers who chose to donate one percent of their trip cost… A powerful reminder that even small contributions can go a long way to create meaningful change.”
The project will begin with comprehensive mapping of the migration areas and ecological monitoring. Working with the local Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, Phuket Rajabhat University and Rajamangala University of Technology, the team will collect data on seagrass health and dugong migration patterns—something Thailand has never had at scale. At the same time, local communities will help promote safer fishing and boating practices and fisherfolk will propagate seagrass on land before transplanting them underwater.
Tourism—once part of the problem—is also being reshaped into an arm of the solution. Working with Intrepid Travel and local hotels, WAP is also designing responsible tourism experiences focused on education and participation. Visitors may learn about marine ecosystems, join planting sessions, or observe drone-based dugong monitoring. There may even be a chance to see a dugong—but that’s not the purpose.
“We won’t guarantee it,” says Lucas. “And we definitely won’t encourage intrusive boat-based viewing!”
More than six years have passed since Marium’s death and the establishment of National Dugong Day, and yet the outlook has only grown more dire. Now, however, this new program suggests that Thailand’s dugong conservation efforts may at last be turning the tide.
You can find out more about the 2025 grant recipients and even choose to make a small donation (with a big impact) for yourself via The Intrepid Foundation.
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Prioritizing depth over breadth, Joshua Zukas writes almost exclusively about Vietnam, a country he first visited in 2007 and has called home since 2013. In addition to writing his own Bradt Guides guidebook (published August 2025), he has co-authored more than half a dozen titles for other publishers, including Lonely Planet, Fodor’s and Hardie Grant. His bylines have appeared in The Economist, Wallpaper and Michelin Guide, and he operates VoiceMap audio tours in cities throughout Vietnam.
