New PETA Asia Footage Exposes Monkey Labour Cover-Up in Thai Coconut Industry
New PETA Asia Footage Exposes Monkey Labour Cover-Up in Thai Coconut Industry
London – Going back to Thailand one year after PETA Asia exposed the use of forced monkey labour on Thai coconut farms, investigators have now found that manufacturers and the Thai government are lying to the public and importers about monkey use, which continues despite false claims and empty promises.
PETA Asia’s new video, available here, includes interviews with industry insiders who discuss how farms simply hide monkeys until auditors leave or buy monkeys without registering them, even though registration is legally required. Of the 14 coconut farms that PETA Asia investigators visited last year, half were still confirmed to be using monkeys, including two farms visited the prior year. As for the rest, because farmers can hire contractors to bring in monkeys only during harvest time, it’s nearly impossible to know whether they’re monkey-free.
PETA Asia found that any audits or visits by inspectors were announced to farmers in advance, giving them time to conceal monkeys. Investigators spoke with one farmer who uses monkey labour and who said that Chaokoh representatives didn’t tell farmers to stop using monkeys.
“Thailand’s coconut industry is attempting to cover up the fact that chained monkeys are still being forced to pick coconuts for coconut milk, and its fake audits and empty promises will only see the industry continue to crumble,” says PETA Director Elisa Allen. “PETA is calling on Chaokoh to stop supporting this cruel industry by obtaining its coconuts from companies that don’t use monkeys.”
With this new intelligence, PETA Asia is also turning up the pressure on the Thai government to hold the coconut industry accountable. PETA Asia will continue to push retailers to reconsider their relationship with Chaokoh, too. More than 26,000 international stores – including UK chains Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, and Tesco – have banned coconut milk brands that use coconuts picked by monkeys.
Monkeys exploited in the coconut industry are taken from their natural habitat as babies and tethered by the neck, and their teeth may be removed if they try to defend themselves. (PETA Asia’s video shows one monkey whose canines have been extracted.) They are deprived of any semblance of a natural life.
Photos from PETA Asia’s investigation in Thailand are available here, and broadcast-quality footage is available here.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
Contact:
Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327; [email protected]
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