A wildlife sanctuary in Thailand has captured a sighting of an endangered bison for the first time in 37 years.
Video footage from early October captured the bison roaming around in the dark at the Salawin Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Thailand, according to media reports. The sighting has reignited hopes that bison, known as Bos Gaurus locally, may be living within the sanctuary’s protected area.
It means that the sanctuary is the only protected forest in northern Thailand where the animal had been seen in decades.
The last time the large bovine was spotted was in 1986.
Arkhom Boonnontae, chief of the Salawin Wildlife Sanctuary, said staff had installed camera traps to better survey wildlife in the area, according to the NationThailand.
He said that they selected areas “where wildlife tracks were abundant or where different types of wildlife were reported to have been seen in the area”.
“And in the early hours of the morning in the past month, we got a photo of a rare wildlife in Northern Thailand, that is a Bos gaurus,” he told the outlet.
The sanctuary is an important biodiversity hotspot in the border forest region between Thailand and Myanmar.
The Bos Gaurus, also known as Gaur, is native to South and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as vulnerable on the IUCN conservation red list since 1986.
The endangered species’ population in Thailand started decreasing are more and more of its habitat was taken away. The bisons are also threatened by poaching for the commercial trade in meat and trophy-hunting.
