Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has called on Thais to stop eating wildlife in a bid to help protect animal populations.
Gen Prayut said he was unhappy with Thais who liked to eat exotic foods where the main ingredients come from wildlife. He said those people believed that eating such foods would help improve their health and make them stronger. Yet if the concern really was health, he said, people should opt for taking vitamins that can yield better results.
Gen Prayut was speaking Wednesday at a forum to celebrate World Environment Day which falls on June 5 every year.
The theme this year was "Go Wild for Life", with the aim of encouraging the public not to participate in activities linked to the illegal wildlife trade and wildlife poaching, to preserve animal species in forests.
"Thai people eat tigers, pangolins and birds. They eat all types of wildlife. It is so cruel to do so," Gen Prayut said.
"Look at their eyes, please, they look like us. I want Thais to show more mercy towards those animals.
"As for myself [I admit] I eat shark's fin. But now, I eat it less because I get bored with it and feel pity.
"I once watched a film in which a person cut off a shark's fin and let the rest of the fish fall back into the sea. That shark was not dead immediately," he added.
Gen Prayut called on state agencies to help come up with clear policy approaches to increase wildlife populations in national forests.
He said the work of state agencies will be a significant factor determining the success of measures to protect and preserve wildlife populations.
He said a mechanism to monitor the movement of wildlife was also needed.
To increase wildlife populations, Thailand has made commitments to the international community to double the tiger population by 2020.
The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation has said it is confident it can accomplish this goal, saying there are many benefits to increasing the number of wild tigers in the Western Forest Complex.
It's estimated about 100 tigers live in the forest, the largest tiger population in the Asean region.