Monkeys exploited in Thai coconut industry

[Catherine]

Cocoanut products are vegan and therefore are considered cruelty free. That is not always the case. In Thailand the cocoanut industry uses monkeys to harvest the cocoanuts. These monkeys are kept in poor conditions, isolated from other monkeys and forced to work long hours picking cocoanuts. This is an exploitive and cruel practice. It is also misleading to the public who believe that by using cocoanut products they are avoiding animal exploitation and cruelty.


https://thebeet.com/coconut-products-tie...ban-sales/

Some stores have stopped carrying cocoanut products that come from Thailand. We as consumers have the final say in what products actually sell. 
It is not enough to just buy a vegan product. We do have to check where it is from and how was it produced. I know it can seem exhausting to keep up with all of this, but we do tend to buy the same products and brands over and over. We have the internet to make easy research possible. It is worth a few minutes of our time to look up a product or a company or a country of origin and find out if it is exploitive. Groups like PETA investigate various industries so checking their web site or other web sites will give quick answers about products.  If we all shop responsibly it will no longer be profitable to use monkey labour. I know I am going to be more careful in future.