Police are hunting a suspect who allegedly killed a gaur, also known as an Indian bison, in a palm plantation in Krabi's Plai Phraya district yesterday.
Pol Lt Gen Suphachai Sungsabphaisan, an investigator at Plai Phraya police station, said police were looking into the case after Supachai Chumjai, 34, reported the animal's death.
Mr Supachai told investigators that Preeda Paklao, 41, a Plai Phraya resident, asked him to use his pickup truck to collect the carcasses of mountain goats he said he had killed at a plantation.
When he arrived in the area, he found the dead gaur and reported it to the village head and police.
Officers went to search Mr Preeda's house but did not find him there.
Police said they will seek an arrest warrant for him.
Police investigators found the seven-year-old male gaur with several shotgun wounds to its body.
Meechai I-soon, head of the Klong Praya Wildlife Sanctuary in Krabi, attended the inspection and said the dead gaur was named "Kai Dam".
He said his colleagues had tracked Kai Dam, the only gaur they had found in the forests of Krabi, for over a year to study the animal's behaviour.