BANGKOK, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- A provincial governor in southern Thailand vowed on Tuesday to suppress the hunting for manatees in the Andaman Sea.
Siriphat Phatthakun, the provincial governor of Trang, a coastal tourist destination about 840 km south of Bangkok, assured that the authorities and local villagers have looked to protect manatees in the sea off the province from being hunted and killed and that he will take stringent legal action against hunters of the endangered aquatic mammals.
Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Director General Thanya Netithammakul earlier commented that the number of manatees was reported less than 200 in Thailand where they might possibly be on the verge of extinction.
The southern provincial governor said an estimated 130 to 150 out of that dwindling number of manatees can be found in the neighborhood of Trang's Libong archipelago in the lower part of the Andaman Sea.
The manatees had been hunted for meat which was reported to have been used as food, and bones as an ingredient of some aphrodisiac medicine.
