A THAI boy who was partially raised by a dog was found dead at a welfare centre where he had been taken for protection, police and welfare officials said today.

 

Two-year-old Prateep Chumnoon made headlines in the Thai media last year when he was taken from his impoverished 60-year-old grandmother who regularly left him in the care of her pet.

 

The toddler's body was discovered early Sunday morning inside a high plastic container used for laundry at a welfare centre in the southern Thai province of Nakhon Si Thammarat, local police said.

 

Welfare officials reportedly removed Prateep from his grandmother's care after neighbours alerted them that the boy had began making dog, rather than human, sounds.

 

"She left him at home with the dog while she went out for work," chief provincial welfare officer, Theerasak Kwanphet said.

 

Theerasak said an internal investigation had been ordered into the boy's death.

 

A police spokesman said the boy had died from injuries that might have been caused by a fall into the container.

 

"We are investigating as doctors do not know yet whether his death was accidental or not," the police spokesman said.

:headshake