Payūn | Saving Thailand’s Last Dugongs

In 2024, 41 dead dugongs (or payūn in Thai) washed up on Thai shores. Experts predict that there are less than 120 left in the country. Why? Thailand's coastal seagrass patches - the dugongs’ main food source - are vanishing fast, and Thailand is the first country in the world where a definitive link between climate change, seagrass, and dugong death is being made. Limited seagrass is also impacting dugongs’ migratory patterns. Before late 2024, dugongs were almost never seen in unprotected areas such as Phuket. For months, Theerasak “Pop” Saksritawee, an amateur conservationist, has been monitoring one dugong in particular who has chosen to settle temporarily in Tanken Bay. Pop has fondly named him “Miracle”.

This short documentary film and accompanying feature article follows Pop as he supports a government working group on their mission to save Thailand’s last dugongs.

Shot and written for The Guardian, supported by The Pulizer Centre.

Coming soon

Video credits

Director | Mailee Osten-Tan
Producers | Mailee Osten-Tan, Nicolas Axelrod
Director of Photography | Nicolas Axelrod
Editor | Mailee Osten-Tan
Local Producer | Janjira Lintong