Several British supermarket chains will withdraw from the sale of products made with coconuts which have been picked by monkeys. These were used for this task in Thailand. Coconut waters and oils are particularly concerned, reports the BBC.
This decision came after the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) association revealed the findings of its investigation into the subject. Animal rights activists have discovered eight farms across the country where pigtailed macaques are forced to harvest fruit.
They pick 1,000 coconuts a day
The animals are treated there like "coconut picking machines", denounces Peta. During their training, "the animals […], many of whom were illegally captured babies, displayed typical behavior indicating extreme stress", deplore the activists. After their passage in these “schools for monkeys”, the males are able to collect 1.000 coconuts per day where a human being picks only about 80 of them.
British retail giants Waitrose, Ocado, Co-op and Boots have announced the discontinuation of certain references. "In accordance with our animal welfare policy, we are committed to never selling products we know are made from the work of monkeys," said officials at Waitrose.
Glad Waitrose, Co-op, Boots & Ocado have vowed not to sell products that use monkey labor, while Morrisons has already removed these from its stores.
Time for ALL supermarkets to do the same.
I'm told Asda, Tesco & Sainsbury's STILL sell such products. https://t.co/nWbEIHpzFL
The Morrisons brand, meanwhile, announced that it had already removed the offending items from its shelves. Tesco also reacted by asserting that its own brand of oils and coconut water did not exploit the monkeys and that the company did not sell any of the brands questioned by Peta. The chain is one of the companies that were singled out this Friday in a tweet from Carrie Symonds, environmentalist and partner of Boris Johnson. She accused certain stores of not having yet stopped marketing the products.
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