Perched trades
In Thailand, coconut-picking monkeys
Audio 03:29
A macaque monkey on top of a palm tree where it is trained to chop down coconuts for a man at the base of the tree to pick them up.
(Illustrative image) AFP - MADAREE TOHLALA
By: Carol Isoux
3 mins
As part of our summer series on "perched professions", head to the coconut plantations of southern Thailand.
To harvest the coconuts from the tops of the trees, workers of a rather special kind get to work: monkeys, trained for this work by humans for centuries.
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From our special correspondent in Surat Thani
Knocking the coconuts off the highest branches of the coconut tree is the job of Ling Gé, a young macaque who wears a long leash and a bell around his neck.
He has been doing this task for more than two years now.
It was his master, Somneuk, who taught him.
“
First, I teach him to spin the coconut like this: right hand, left hand.
We always turn in one direction until it unhooks and falls,
says Somneuk.
He is a very intelligent monkey, it was not difficult to teach him.
I show him, he imitates me right away.
»
In Surat Thani, southern Thailand, farmers have used monkeys for centuries to harvest nuts out of the reach of poles.
Several "schools of monkeys" even offer to train macaques for free before returning them to their owners.
The most gifted monkeys can sometimes have a career in the cinema.
Suriya has been training monkeys since she was a teenager.
For her, it is not an exploitation of the animal, but rather a relationship of mutual aid between the species.
“
It's a very strong relationship between man and animal.
At first, he likes us like a creature from his environment, which gives him food,
explains Suriya.
And little by little, we establish a master-student relationship.
It's not too difficult to teach a monkey, it depends on the monkey, some are faster than others, but for sure you need a lot of patience with the animal, repeat often the same gestures, for a long time.
Sometimes it's difficult, but with a lot of patience and determination, it can be done.
»
“
We do this for food
”
International voices have been raised to denounce what is considered animal abuse, but on the ground, small farmers do not have access to the funds necessary to acquire machinery.
There are therefore no real alternatives for them.
Mani, a small owner of monkeys, recalls that it is above all a question of feeding his family.
“
It's very good that the monkeys can help us do this work, because otherwise, the tallest nuts, we couldn't eat them.
We do this for food.
Around here, we need coconut to eat a balanced diet.
Some monkeys have always enjoyed human company.
They can't speak, but they understand what is said to them, they have abilities.
»
But some animal protection associations have been calling for a boycott of Thai products for some time, causing a wave of panic among manufacturers, so much so that Trade Minister Jurin Laksanawisit had to recall at a press conference that the use monkeys in the industry was marginal.
“
The use of monkeys is a Thai tradition, which some farmers show to tourists to amuse them, but then these photos circulate and it seems that the whole industry works like that.
This is not the case,
said the minister.
I invite our foreign partners to come and visit the coconut plantations and see that all the important plantations use machines.
Monkeys are used on an artisanal scale, not an industrial one.
You have to see the context to understand.
»
In the absence of a public investment program to help small-scale farmers buy machinery, and in order to avoid risking human lives, monkeys in southern Thailand will continue to climb to the tops of trees to drop nuts. of coconut.
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