Why Did This Angry ‘Monkey’ Dump a Pile of Coconuts at the Thai Embassy in Seoul?
Today, an angry PETA “monkey” dumped a pile of humanely picked coconuts at the Royal Thai Embassy in Seoul to remind the ambassador that it’s nuts that monkey labor is used in Thailand’s coconut industry by companies such as Chaokoh.
It may come as a surprise to many that monkeys in Thailand are forced to pick the coconuts used in many coconut milk products. In 2019, PETA investigators visited farms in Thailand on which monkeys were forced to pick coconuts and went to several monkey-training facilities and a coconut-picking competition. Thousands of monkeys have been captured from their natural homes and forced to pick coconuts. They’re fitted with rigid metal collars and kept chained or tethered for extended periods.
PETA investigators returned in 2020 and found that monkeys are still being used and that Chaokoh and the Thai government have not only failed to take meaningful action to end the use of forced monkey labor but also are touting a misleading and inadequate audit system to lie to companies and consumers about the extent of forced monkey labor in the Thai coconut industry. Inspections are virtually pointless, since monkeys may only be taken to the farms during harvesting.
The monkeys’ miserable existence is perpetuated by the Thai government’s failure to hold the industry accountable.
More than 28,000 stores—including international chains Tesco and Costco—have banned coconut milk brands that use coconuts picked by monkeys since PETA’s first investigation.
Take Action for Chained, Abused Monkeys
Help monkeys by never buying Chaokoh coconut milk or the brand’s other exploitative coconut products. Make sure the coconut milk that you buy only comes from companies that don’t support forced monkey labor.
