A crisis has been unfolding along Thailand’s shores: dugongs are washing up dead in alarming numbers. Some experts fear fewer than 120 remain. The cause is largely starvation, triggered by the rapid collapse of seagrass meadows — the dugongs’ only source of food. In a desperate search for seagrass last year dugongs migrated into a small bay in Phuket where they were spotted by an enthusiastic amateur conservationist.

Theerasak “Pop” Saksritawee has been volunteering to help marine biologists to monitor the dugongs ever since, fondly naming two of his favourites Miracle and Jingjok. In this short film for The Guardian Documentaries, supported by the Pulitzer Center, Pop sounds an urgent alarm on Thailand’s last dugongs before they vanish forever.