BANGKOK – A wild deer was found dead at a national park in northern Thailand with seven kilograms of plastic waste and other trash inside its stomach.
The 10-year-old deer, weighing about 200 kilograms, was discovered by national park rangers on Nov. 25 at the Khun Sathan National Park in northern Nan province. Officials estimate that the deer had died at least two days earlier.
“When vets examined the deer’s stomach they discovered a lot of trash – most of it plastic,” said Kriangsak Thanompan, the director of the protected region in Khun Sathan National Park.
An examination showed that the deer had died from intestinal obstruction after consuming trash over time. Vets found plastic bags, used coffee and noodle packets, rubber gloves, handkerchiefs, underwear and a plastic rope in its stomach.
“The place we found the deer is a protected forest but it is close to human communities as well as roads where passersby sometimes litter,” he said.
Last year the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation banned the use of plastic and foam in all of the country’s national parks but it has not stopped animals from dying from plastic waste. (Reuters)
