A Dugong's Tragic Story Sparked a Thai Island's Sea Change

On Thailand's Koh Libong island, Tipusa Sangsawang remembers when the seagrass meadows stretched like football fields, teeming with dugongs and all manner of marine life. Now, much of it is just sand. Which, if you're a gentle, seagrass-munching dugong, is less than ideal.

Tipusa has always had a soft spot for these charming, slow-moving marine mammals. So when a baby dugong named Marium was found stranded and motherless in 2019, Tipusa became part of her dedicated recovery team. Marium was moved to a special enclosure near Koh Libong, and Tipusa spent every waking moment with her, swimming alongside her, checking on her progress. The little dugong quickly became a national celebrity, her adorable antics shared widely across Thai social media. "She was like an angel who came to us with a message from the ocean," Tipusa recalled.

But even angels can't escape plastic. Despite the round-the-clock care, Marium died 114 days after her rescue. The autopsy revealed a blood infection, likely caused by ingesting plastic. Her death, heartbreaking as it was, became a powerful wake-up call for Thailand, shining a harsh light on the marine plastic crisis. For Tipusa, it ignited an even fiercer resolve. "I told Marium she would be the last," she shared. And apparently, the community listened.