Monkeys abused in South African coconut fields
Chained-up monkeys in south-east Asia could be picking the coconuts used to make the various trendy brands of water and oil sold in health food stores and supermarkets across the world, the Daily Mail reported.
Baby monkeys are stolen away from their mothers, who are often shot by hunters, and sent to special schools where they are taught to pick as many as 1,000 coconuts a day.
Many of the coconut-based products, which have become the must-have for healthy eaters and celebrities alike, are sourced from Thailand where the majority of coconuts are picked by these cruelly-treated animals, reports claim.
Several major brands that MailOnline investigated source their products from Thailand, as well as the south-east Asian nations of Indonesia and the Philippines.
These coconut oils and waters have been espoused by several celebrities who blog about their health benefits and use them as nutritious alternatives in their 'free-from' bakes.
And nearly every supermarket or grocery store now features coconut water, making the whole industry worth around a billion pounds.
But as demand grows, so does the abuse of macaque monkeys who suffer 'serious psychological damage' as a result of being chained up 24-hours-a-day.
Many coconut water companies source their product south-east Asian countries like Indonesia, where 18m tonnes of coconuts are harvested every year, and Thailand, which produces just over one million tonnes annually.
It is unknown how many of the coconuts used to make the products are picked by monkeys.
But the Bangkok Post claims that if the drink sourced from Thailand, the coconuts were 'most likely' picked by monkeys.
Some monkeys are known to work from 8am to 5pm and only stop for a short break on rainy days and Sundays.
When they are not working, their owners place a muzzle on their faces and shackle them to a tree stump or a shed - restricting their movement and interaction with other monkeys.
A well-trained monkey can pick hundreds more coconuts than a human, who are limited to a few hundred at most, and fetch up to £1,200 when sold to other farmers.
Footage from a monkey training school in Koh Phangan, Thailand, shows a monkey expertly scaling a tree, removing a coconut and throwing it back down - all within 30 seconds.
Once it has emptied the tree, the monkey's handler yanks the chain tied around the its neck to make it climb back down.
These monkeys are shown off to tourists as amusing spectacles by their owners who claim the animals enjoy climbing and picking fruit.
But chaining them up the socially-intelligent creatures, and forcing them to carry out menial tasks, causes 'lasting psychological damage', Claire Turnbull of the Wild Futures monkey sanctuary told MailOnline.
She said: "By keeping them socially isolated, on chains or in small cages, monkeys can develop a host of abnormal behaviours which range from "extreme submission" to self-harming behaviour.
"As they mature, primates naturally become aggressive. In order to keep them submissive, primates are typically subjected to abusive training methods which make them anxious and fearful.
"We absolutely urge companies to make sure they source fruit from farms that do not exploit monkeys in this way."
Monkey schools claim training places emphasis on showing the macaques kindness and never punishing them for mistakes.
The monkeys are taught how to free themselves from become entangled in ropes and even how to select ripe fruit.
According to the Bangkok Post, one training centre claims that using pig-tailed macaques is safer than using humans because they are 'strong, enjoy climbing, do not complain, do not call for higher wages... and are not corrupt.'
It adds: "They do not require social security and accident insurance. Monkeys are therefore considered a "living machine" that is very valuable for coconut farmers."
Some monkeys are even taught to collect grounded coconuts and put them into sacks, which saves their owners hours of back-breaking labour.
Locals in Thailand argue that monkeys have been helping their 'human friends' harvest coconuts for hundreds of years.
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