Dear Ambassador,

I was appalled to learn that threatened and endangered pig-tailed macaques are still being abused and forced to pick coconuts in Thailand. As PETA Asia’s third and latest investigation into the Thai coconut industry proves that rampant abuse of primates is still going unchecked – despite assurances to the contrary from the government.

Monkey-training facilities often pay farmers to capture these animals as babies – even though it’s typically illegal – and either confine them to small, barren cages or keep them chained with rigid metal collars around their necks. Through intimidation and physical abuse, they are trained to obey their handlers and are then sold to coconut pickers who force them to spend long hours climbing tall trees and twisting off heavy coconuts. They can sustain broken bones when handlers jerk them violently to the ground. When they aren’t being forced to work, they’re kept tethered, often without food, water, or protection from the elements.

Instead of working towards a transition to monkey-free harvest methods – such as planting shorter trees with coconuts that are easier to reach – farms, brokers, manufacturers, and the Thai government are misleading the public. One broker admitted to PETA Asia investigators that with no oversight, coconut pickers simply lie. Brokers continue buying coconuts picked by monkeys and selling them to companies that make coconut products, and the companies and the government tout an “audit system”, even though it relies primarily on coconut producers’ word.

Since the release of PETA Asia’s first two investigations into the industry, nearly 40,000 stores around the world have pulled products tied to monkey labour from their shelves. Until monkeys are no longer forced to pick coconuts, more will certainly follow. Instead of denying the use of monkeys or touting unreliable “audit systems”, Thai leaders and the coconut industry must institute change.

Please use your influence as the ambassador of Thailand to Australia to help end this abuse by calling for the monkeys to be retired and humane, non-animal harvesting methods to be implemented.