Conducted between December 2021 and July 2022, the damning exposé implicates coconut pickers, brokers, farms, and monkey-training schools in nine provinces, including top coconut-producing ones.
PETA is now calling for a worldwide boycott of all Thai coconut products.
PETA investigators saw endangered monkeys chained tightly by the neck when they weren’t forced to work and kept tethered in often flooded, trash-filled areas with little shelter from the elements.
A trainer was even caught on camera striking a screaming monkey, dangling him by his tether and collar, and beating him with a metal chain. One female monkey used for breeding was kept chained alone in the sun, while other young monkeys languished in cages.
A coconut picker told investigators that monkeys faced fatal risks performing their “jobs”, including being stung by hornets and falling off trees and breaking bones. Some coconut pickers yanked on ropes tied to the animals, reportedly causing monkeys to fall.
Pickers and training-school owners admit that monkeys are bred in captivity or illegally caught in nature. A broker who sells coconuts for brands like Chaokoh admitted that he can’t guarantee how coconuts are picked, saying that “factories urge farmers not to use monkeys, so if anyone asks them if they use [them], they will not tell you the truth.”
“Kind people want to know why social and sensitive monkeys are still being forced to labor in the abusive coconut industry,” says PETA Senior Vice President Jason Baker.
“PETA is calling for a worldwide boycott of Thai coconut products until local officials back up their empty words with action, including by shutting down monkey-training schools and subsidizing shorter trees.”
Pickers also callously admitted to releasing monkeys into nature when their productivity wanes ‒ even though the animals have no survival skills after having been captive-bred or captured as juveniles. Others are kept after they’re retired and stored like used equipment ‒ likely chained up for the rest of their lives.
PETA’s investigation linked monkey labor to Chaokoh, Ampol Food, Theppadungporn Coconut Co., Aroy-d, Cocoburi, Tropicana Oil, Thai Pure Coconut Co., Ampawa, Suree, Edward & Sons Trading Co and many other brands.