Monkeys Pick Coconuts In Thailand. Are They Abused Or Working Animals?

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Monkeys Pick Coconuts In Thailand. Are They Abused Or Working Animals?

Eliza Barclay / NPR

BANGKOK:-- If you've consumed coconut oil or coconut meat lately, there's a reasonable chance it was imported from Thailand. And if it was, there's an even better chance the farmer who grew that coconut had a monkey fetch it from a tall tree.

Thailand has been raising and training pigtailed macaques to pick coconuts for around 400 years. Coconut farmers in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, India and other countries in the region sometimes rely on monkeys, too.

Why monkeys? Turns out a male monkey can collect an average of 1,600 coconuts per day and a female can get 600, while a human can only collect around 80 per day. It's also safer for a scampering, height-savvy monkey to pluck and drop the fruit from the trees — up to 80 feet tall — than a human, according to the National Primate Research Center at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

We weren't aware that monkeys were key to the Asian coconut industry — until Animal Place, a farm sanctuary in Grass Valley, Calif., contacted us in early October claiming that monkeys are being "exploited" on coconut plantations there. "Animal-aware people are increasingly avoiding coconut products that come from monkey slavery," the group, which advocates a vegan diet, said.

Full story: http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/oct/19/monkeys-pick-coconuts-in-thailand-are-they-abused/

KPBS -- 2015.10.20

[AGareth2]

Sakdina

[berybert]

Do these people who claim abuse keep their dogs on a leash or in a fenced in garden.

How dare anyone make a monkey climb a tree.

[Thian]

In Italy the pigs are used to find the truffles mushroom.

In India they use birds to catch fish and bring it back to the boat.

In Europe they use dogs to find drugsmugglers or people with cancer or bombs or much cash money.

In Thailand they use elephants to move huge logs.

Why not?

[uksomchai]

The man that used to come and harvest our coconuts had a very good and close relationship with his monkey. If they had a good day then the man used to get a bottle of Thai whisky and the monkey got a can of coke. Watching the monkey open and drink the can of coke was funny as was watching the monkey hop on the back of the motorbike and put its hands around the man riding it. He got to keep all the coconuts from our place and was paid 1 Baht for each coconut from other farmers

Abused ? Not that I have ever seen. They cost too much

[impulse]

Turns out a male monkey can collect an average of 1,600 coconuts per day and a female can get 600

Jeez. Can't believe the "Equal Pay" folks haven't jumped all over that one...

[h90]

I doubt that all!

A human can easily fetch more than 80. One of our staff, went up and fetched 5-6 after working for fun in about 2 min.

While 1600 sound too much.

For the monkeys I heard 2 stories:

a) They live happy together with the people, have their character and everything is fine.

b )They got collected in the forest as baby, by shooting the mother and forced cruel to work.

Don't know which is true.....why would you take the hassle to get them from the forest if you have already male and female and be able to breed the best one.

Edited October 20, 2015 by h90

[ratcatcher]

"Animal-aware people are increasingly avoiding coconut products that come from monkey slavery," the group, which advocates a vegan diet, said.

You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

You grow coconuts, you use monkeys.

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=pigtailed+macaque+collecting+coconuts&espv=2&biw=1024&bih=610&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMI69rhv5_RyAIVgo-OCh19uAYR#imgdii=Huu2fwuTcw3RCM%3A%3BHuu2fwuTcw3RCM%3A%3BSAvrA3uzraF0GM%3A&imgrc=Huu2fwuTcw3RCM%3A

An example of animal cruelty. Imagine being restrained like this monkey.

It really wants to climb a tree with its mum.

[Gonsalviz]

What a useless story.

[ratcatcher]

What a useless story.

What a useless post!

[willyumiii]

And what about all of the cruel who ride horses or even elephants?

If you want to talk about abuse, how about baby cows who live their entire life in a 2X3 pen and are slaughtered very young for veal, chickens kept under lights 24 hours a day to increase egg production or even wild animals confined in zoos?

I think these monkeys have a pretty good life

.

[kuiburi]

Living in coconut country I never seen monkey slavery , they live a pretty good life .

Humans collect as much coconuts as monkeys do , see it every day .

The national primate research center isn't really good at research it seems .

[Somtamnication]

Well, a monkey riding a bike at the local zoos. Birds cycling, elephants on top of other elephants at Phuket Fantasea. Working animals or abused? Ridiculous article. If anyone has any clue on how these animals are trained, they would understand.

[canopy]

In Thailand they use elephants to move huge logs.

Why not?

Not anymore. That was made illegal decades ago in Thailand. What happened is loggers were giving the elephants amphetamines to get them to work harder. This was considered animal cruelty so all elephants were forbidden to work and the owners turned them to the streets to beg.

[soalbundy]

 

Turns out a male monkey can collect an average of 1,600 coconuts per day and a female can get 600

Jeez. Can't believe the "Equal Pay" folks haven't jumped all over that one...

 

it's pretty sexist as well,saying a female can't produce as much as a male,the PC crowd have missed an opportunity here, it's discriminatory as well, calling them monkeys,could hurt their feelings, they are primates.

[SchadeBoy]

I would have no problem employing monkeys, especially if they are cheaper than 300 baht a day.

[DeepInTheForest]

After reading the posts, I'm getting worried about the humans who collect coconuts. Climbing forty or more trees a day would scare the living daylights out of me. Do they use a harness to prevent falls?

Edited October 21, 2015 by DeepInTheForest

[stephenterry]

Only a rope.

[Ace of Pop]

They put the rope round neck in case they fall

[Soutpeel]

I thought the only thing the monkeys did in Thailand was willingly hand over their lifes savings to their teeraks because "she's different"

[Thian]

In Thailand they use elephants to move huge logs.

Why not?

Not anymore. That was made illegal decades ago in Thailand. What happened is loggers were giving the elephants amphetamines to get them to work harder. This was considered animal cruelty so all elephants were forbidden to work and the owners turned them to the streets to beg.

I admit it was in a case of emergency but after the tsunami they used elephants to remove logs and cars in Phuket. I 've seen the pictures of it.

But elephants making paintings or playing soccer for tourists also isn't what they used to do in the jungle.

I have never seen Thai monkeys being used to do tricks in front of tourists to get money. Guess picking coconuts pays better?

I did see baby elephants walking on the roads in BKK though.

Thailand needs some islands where they can bring wild animals to, tourists can see them there and pay for it.

[lust]

Monkey slaves lol.

Next we will here about cow slavery. Forced to give milk all day.

Chicken concentration camps.

ISIS elephants.

[happynthailand]

[Enoon]

I thought the only thing the monkeys did in Thailand was willingly hand over their lifes savings to their teeraks because "she's different"

What colour is the sky on your planet?

[Soutpeel]

I thought the only thing the monkeys did in Thailand was willingly hand over their lifes savings to their teeraks because "she's different"

What colour is the sky on your planet?

Blue why ? ......thought we where dicussing Monkeys not the cosmos ?

[HerbalEd]

I'd bet that the members of Animal Place who complained about the monkey "slaves" have their own animal slaves in the form of pet dogs and/or cats.

[HerbalEd]

Monkey slaves lol.

Next we will here about cow slavery. Forced to give milk all day.

Chicken concentration camps.

ISIS elephants.

Actually, you're spot on with "chicken concentration camps."

[anon4546543]

There are some things that people do to animals that probably are cruel (harvesting bile from bears, confining orcas to small pools and cage egg chickens for example) Some organisations do a fair job in highlighting these pratices and often result in people who no longer go to view the orcas or only buying free range chicken eggs. But the authors of this post are way off the mark and need to be shown up for their poorly researched and potentially economically harmful posts.

[h90]

There are some things that people do to animals that probably are cruel (harvesting bile from bears, confining orcas to small pools and cage egg chickens for example) Some organisations do a fair job in highlighting these pratices and often result in people who no longer go to view the orcas or only buying free range chicken eggs. But the authors of this post are way off the mark and need to be shown up for their poorly researched and potentially economically harmful posts.

in the mass food production there are sure way bigger problems than the monkeys

[impulse]

But the authors of this post are way off the mark and need to be shown up for their poorly researched and potentially economically harmful posts.

So true. No better way to lose all credibility (and a lot of supporters) than to rail against practices that don't come close to the top of a long list of abusive practices.

Meanwhile a few miles away, they're skinning dogs alive... Now there's something that would garner almost universal support from the West.