Chained Monkeys Forced into a Life of Picking Coconuts, Undercover Investigation Reveals

Thailand’s coconut industry faces international condemnation, as Walgreens among major supermarkets to stop selling products picked by monkeys.

Credit: PETA Asia

A major investigation has found that monkeys are being forced into a lifetime of hard labor picking coconuts, in order to produce products like coconut water, milk, and oil. 

Footage shows chained monkeys being forced to climb trees and pick coconuts. When not being forced to work, the animals are kept tethered, chained to old tires, or confined to cramped cages barely bigger than their bodies, and some were filmed displaying repetitive behaviors indicative of extreme distress. 

The investigation, by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), documented this abuse in four ‘monkey schools’, eight farms and a coconut-picking competition, suggesting that the problem is widespread across the country. PETA believes that virtually all coconuts from Thailand are picked by abused monkeys.  

“These curious, highly intelligent animals are denied mental stimulation, companionship, freedom, and everything else that would make their lives worth living, all so that they can be used to pick coconuts,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. 

At least two of the leading coconut milk brands - Thailand’s Aroy-D, and Chaokoh - have been implicated in the investigation. In response, major supermarkets are now banning the sale of any coconut products picked by monkeys. 

Walgreens Boots Alliance has already vowed to stop selling any own-brand coconut food or drink products of Thai origin in its 9,000 Walgreens and 250 Duane Reade stores in the US, as well as its 2,000 Boots stores in the UK and Thailand.

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