COCONUT PICKING-MONKEY IN THAILAND

Thailand's Commerce Ministry stated that the coconut farmers and monkey school owners have dismissed claims that many monkeys trained to pick coconuts were mistreated. They also announced plans to get foreign diplomats to see the monkeys at work for themselves. According to the Bangkok Post reported that permanent secretary for the Commerce Ministry, Boonyarit Kalayanamit has said the monkey owners did not abuse or exploit the animals, which had been humanely trained to pick coconuts. Now the ministry is ready to invite foreign diplomats to visit coconut plantations and see how the monkeys pick coconuts so they will realise this is not animal cruelty [as claimed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta)]. He said Thai commercial attaches in Thai embassies overseas had been told to provide an explanation to retailers. He added that the ministry would discuss the issue with the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry to find further solutions. Blog "Anim Agriculture Technology" write about a report regarding the coconut-picking monkey treated wlll in Thailand. Malaysia also has a monkey training school for this purpose in Kelantan as part of the proposal to pluck most tall coconut tree.

Governement official in Thailand claims that due to the falling price of coconuts, the group had asked operators of the coconut milk plants to justify their practices to Peta. The Department of Agriculture Thailand has to give details of the use of monkeys to pick coconuts. According to Somjai Sae Kow, the owner of a school which trains monkeys in Surat Thani's Kanchanadit district, said the practice of capturing monkeys from the wild to pick coconuts ceased a long time ago and monkeys were bred and raised before being trained. She also denied claims the monkeys were forced to pick up to 1,000 coconuts a day, adding that the monkeys did not work every day.

Coconut-picking monkeys were mostly males and their abilities varied, she said, adding that the owner of the monkey received two baht per coconut picked. Foreigners may not understand our livelihood. Also, humans are not built to climb up a coconut tree to pick fruit. They will be at risk, compared to monkeys which have the natural ability to do so. Then according to experts named as  Chaowalit Chusaneh, an owner of coconut-picking monkeys in Surat Thani's Muang district, also brushed aside claims of inhumane treatment. The current batch of monkeys working for us were bred from previous generations. There is no cruelty. They are looked after well. They are fed well three times a day. It was reported that major Western retailers had begun to pull Thai coconut products from their shelves amid allegations the coconuts were picked by poorly treated domesticated monkeys.  According to Peta, the monkeys were snatched from the wild and treated like compared to coconut-picking machines. It said monkeys were used by farms that supply some of Thailand's coconut milk brands, which are exported to Europe and the United States. Currently more than 15,000 stores will no longer purchase these brands' products, with the majority also no longer buying any coconut products sourced from Thailand monkey labour. Thanks...

By,

M Anim,

Putrajaya,

Malaysia.

(August 2020).

Updated May 2025