Update: Monkey Labour Cover-Up in Thai Coconut Industry
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.
In a new video, industry insiders 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 this year, half were still confirmed to be using monkeys, including two farms visited last 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 the animals. One farmer who uses monkey labour told investigators that Chaokoh representatives didn’t tell farmers to stop using monkeys.
In response to this new information, PETA and our affiliates are turning up the pressure on the Thai government to hold the coconut industry accountable. And we will continue to push retailers to reconsider their relationship with Chaokoh, too.
More than 26,000 international stores have banned coconut milk brands that use coconuts picked by monkeys. Most recently, New Zealand grocery giant Foodstuffs – which encompasses retail brands PAK’nSAVE, New World, and Four Square, representing some 600 stores – delisted Chaokoh products after we shared the results of PETA Asia’s investigation.
Help Monkeys
Please make sure that your coconut products don’t come from suppliers that use monkey labour.
A PETA Asia investigator was told by a worker at one farm that it supplied coconuts to Chaokoh, which is sold as TCC in Australia. So if you purchase Chaokoh or TCC coconut cream, milk, oil, meat, or flour products from Thailand, you may inadvertently be supporting this cruelty.
And please sign our action alert to urge Chaokoh to stop supporting this cruel industry by obtaining its coconuts from companies that don’t use monkeys.
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