Target will no longer sell coconut milk made by Thai company Chaokoh after an investigation alleged the drink is linked to forced labor with monkeys, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals announced Monday.
“By dropping Chaokoh, Target is joining thousands of stores refusing to take advantage of the misery of chained monkeys,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said in a statement.
“PETA revelations have confirmed that Thai coconut producers are exploiting and lying about monkeys, so there is no excuse for a supermarket to keep Chaokoh on the shelves.”
PETA, which has been tracking the exploitation of monkeys in Thailand since 2019, conducted two undercover investigations that found primates had to pick coconuts all day long with chains around their necks. The group’s probe found “cruelty to monkeys at every farm, at every monkey training, and at every coconut-picking match that used monkey labor.”
“When they were not forced to pick coconuts or perform in circus-like shows for tourists, the animals were tied up, chained to old tapes or locked in cages barely bigger than their bodies,” PETA wrote in a press release.
After PETA’s investigation, the coconut industry claimed they changed their practice and stopped using monkey labor, but a second probe found it was still ongoing.
PETA Asia’s second investigation found that producers are still using monkey labor and industry insiders discuss how farms are disguising this practice by simply hiding monkeys until auditors leave or by hiring contractors to bring in monkeys only during the harvest, ”said PETA.
PETA is lobbying major supermarket chains to stop selling Chaokoh, and so far more than 26,000 stores, including Wegmans, Costco, Food Lion, Stop & Shop and now Target, have agreed to cut ties with the brand.
Meanwhile, Kroger, Albertsons and Publix are continuing the practice.