Thai fishers struggled for more than an hour to haul in the record-breaking Mekong giant catfish. Officials from Thailand's Inland Fishery Deparment then used a performance-enhancing drug to stimulate the pituitary gland of the female fish in order to prepare it for a breeding program (above). Despite efforts to keep the bear-size catfish alive, it died and was later eaten by villagers.

The species is listed as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and faces a high risk of extinction in the wild. The rare specimen, captured in the Mekong River in Chiang Khong district, is the largest since Thailand began keeping records in 1981.

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