Carcass of dugong found washed ashore in Tamil Nadu's Ramanathapuram

Ramanathapuram: The carcass of a female dugong, weighing around 300kg, washed ashore near Sethukarai in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday. Local fishermen spotted the carcass of the marine mammal and alerted the forest department personnel.

"The critically endangered species, protected under Schedule I of The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, is present in small numbers in the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park. The mammal is hunted at times but this carcass did not have any signs of hunting,” Keelakarai forest range officer S Sikkandar Batcha said.

However, the mammal had a bleeding injury on the face. Forest department officials said the marine mammal might have died after hitting a rock or a fishing vessel accidentally. The carcass was buried after postmortem.