Was a top zoologist shot 19 times close to exposing trafficking at Thai zoos?

 Songkhla Zoo veterinarian Phuwadol Suwanna, at left, shot to death national zoo director-general Suriya Saengpong, at right, after he was transferred over the zoo’s missing albino deer, at center. Photos: Songkhla Zoo, Suriya Saengpong / Facebook
Songkhla Zoo veterinarian Phuwadol Suwanna, at left, shot to death national zoo director-general Suriya Saengpong, at right, after he was transferred over the zoo’s missing albino deer, at center. Photos: Songkhla Zoo, Suriya Saengpong / Facebook

Four days after Thailand’s top zoologist was murdered by a veterinarian, investigators today are still trying to determine whether it was a crime of passion or act of desperation to cover up a zoo’s animal trafficking operation.

Capt. Kamonpun Srithep of Songkhla police said today that investigators are still collecting evidence and questioning witnesses to determine what happened. 

At the center of the mystery are two figures that have gone missing – albino barking deers royally gifted to the Songkhla Zoo, where veternarian Phuwadol Suwanna shot the national zoo organization’s director-general, Suriya Saengpong, 19 times on Saturday before turning the gun on himself. Phuwadol’s death left unanswered whether he had a personal conflict with Suriya or killed him to protect a trafficking racket.

One of the zoo’s three deers disappeared in February, followed by a second on Sept. 22 which prompted an investigation. To facilitate the investigation, Suriya had transferred Phuwadol to a post in Bangkok, said national zoo chairman Chaowalit Chukajorn.

Witnesses said that Phuwadol met Suriya on Saturday morning about his pending transfer. Security footage shows they had a heated argument before Phuwadol opened fire. He then fled the scene and committed suicide in a residential area.

Chaowalit said Sunday that the zoo’s investigation believed the deer that went missing last month was likely eaten by a python. He said workers cut open a python 100 meters from the deer enclosure and found remains inside it.

As it turned out, the deers were not the first animals to vanish from the southern zoo, where a variety of suspicious incidents have fueled suspicions it has engaged in illicit trafficking. Last year, officials discovered horns of a dead white rhino cut by a zoo worker in a manner preferred by the market. In 2016, 11 macaws disappeared from the zoo, followed by an alexandrine parrot and golden python in 2017.

After Suriya’s murder, the minister for natural resources, Varawut Silpa-archa, said he ordered that all zoos nationwide be investigated for possible trafficking.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha today urged officials not to rush to any conclusions and weighed in to question the python’s motives with his own deep insights on animal behavior.

“The one that was eaten by a python, that was weird. Why did it only choose to eat the albino barking deer? Was it too tame? Why didn’t it eat any deer of other colors?” he said. 

There are said to be only nine albino barking deers in captivity worldwide. Those in Songkhla are descended from an albino deer gifted by the Queen Mother Sirikit.

Read more stories of Coconuts Bangkok here



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