Photos: Chained PETA ‘Monkeys’ Dump ‘Coconut Milk’ at Thai Embassy Over Abuse of Endangered Primates
Photos: Chained PETA ‘Monkeys’ Dump ‘Coconut Milk’ at Thai Embassy Over Abuse of Endangered Primates
London – Today, a troop of PETA “monkeys” in prisoner garb dumped buckets full of “coconut milk” over themselves outside the Royal Thai Embassy to urge embassy officials to end the exploitation of endangered monkeys in Thailand’s coconut picking industry. Holding signs declaring, “Thailand: Dump Monkey Labour” and “Monkeys Tortured for Thai Coconut Milk”, the animal defenders called on the Thai government to end monkey abuse.
Video footage is available here, and photos are available here.
Recent footage from a PETA Asia investigation into Thailand’s coconut-picking training “schools” shows endangered baby pig-tailed macaque monkeys tethered on chains so short they can barely move, kept in flooded or rubbish-strewn areas, and driven insane by endless confinement – all so that they can be forcibly trained to pick coconuts.
“Thai coconut “schools” are pits of despair for endangered baby monkeys, who are snatched from their mothers, deprived of everything that’s natural and important to them, and chained until they lose their minds,” says PETA Senior Campaigns Manager Kate Werner. “PETA is urging Thai officials to shut down these shameful facilities and ban monkey labour. We call on everyone worldwide to ditch canned coconut milk from Thailand until every monkey is free.”
PETA Asia investigators documented baby monkeys – who were abducted from their families in nature or bred on-site and taken from their mothers – tethered on ropes and chains with no shelter from extreme weather and denied comfort, enrichment, or adequate socialisation. Many of them were tied to tiny cages with metal bars that chafed their skin raw. Monkeys paced neurotically, and some ran frantically while attached to tethers, repeatedly choking themselves on their collars. The schools – which are promoted to tourists on the Thai government website – put on deceptive coconut-picking “demonstrations” for visitors that involve adult monkeys who have been abused and broken.
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow PETA on Facebook, X, TikTok, or Instagram.
Contact:
Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7923 6244; [email protected]
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