First Look at Endangered Baby Monkeys Chained, Abused at Thai Coconut Industry Tourist Trap

For Immediate Release:
December 12, 2024

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Shocking, never-before-seen footage from a PETA Asia investigation takes viewers inside the schools where endangered baby pig-tailed macaque monkeys are tethered for years on chains so short they can barely move, kept in flooded or trash-strewn areas, and driven insane by endless confinement—all so that they can be forcibly trained to pick coconuts in the Thai coconut industry. The disturbing video reveals the physical, social, and psychological torment these monkeys—who are less than 3 months old and have been torn from their mothers—endure.

PETA Asia investigators documented that baby monkeys—who were abducted from their families in nature or bred on site and taken from their mothers—were tethered on ropes and chains with no shelter from extreme weather and denied comfort, enrichment, or adequate socialization. Many of them were tied to tiny cages on which their skin was chafed raw from the metal bars. Monkeys paced neurotically and some ran frantically while attached to tethers, repeatedly choking themselves on their collars.

PETA notes that the schools—which are promoted to tourists on the Thai government website—put on deceptive coconut-picking “demonstrations” for visitors that involve adult monkeys who have been abused and broken. PETA is calling on the Thai government to shut down these schools.

“Thailand’s coconut-picking training schools are cesspools of misery, where baby monkeys are snatched from their mothers, deprived of everything that’s natural and important to them, and chained until they lose their minds,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on consumers to buy coconut milk only from countries where monkey labor isn’t used, such as India, Indonesia, and the Philippines, and urging the Thai government to shut down these abusive training schools.” 

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.