A number of supermarkets have removed some coconut water and oil from their shelves after it emerged the products were made with fruit picked by monkeys. Waitrose, Ocado, Co-Op and Boots have vowed to stop selling some goods.

Monkeys, often pigtailed macaques, are snatched from the wild and trained to pick up 1,000 coconuts a day as “coconut-picking machines”, whereas humans are estimated to pick only about 80.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said it had found eight farms in Thailand where monkeys were forced to pick coconuts for export around the world. It said it also discovered “monkey schools” were the animals were trained to pick fruit, as well as ride bikes or play basketball for the entertainment of tourists.

The monkeys at the facilities - many of whom were illegally captured as babies - were said to display stereotypic behaviour indicative of extreme stress. Often, monkeys were chained to old tyres or confined to cages that were barely large enough for them to turn around in. In one case, the organisation was told that monkeys would have their canine teeth pulled out if they tried to bite handlers.

Several of the supermarket chains have released statements in light of this recent revelation: -

• Waitrose - “As part of our animal welfare policy, we have committed to never knowingly sell any products sourced from monkey labour”

• Co-Op - “As an ethical retailer, we do not permit the use of monkey labour to source ingredients for our products.”

• Sainsbury: “We are actively reviewing our ranges and investigating this complex issues with our suppliers.”

• Asda: “We expect our suppliers to uphold the highest production standards at all times and we will not tolerate any forms of animal abuse in our supply chain.”

• Tesco: “Our own-brand coconut milk and coconut water does not use monkey labour in its production and we do not sell any of the branded products identified by PETA. We do not tolerate these practices and would remove any product from sale that is known to have used monkey labour during its production.”

To read more about how primates are exploited in wildlife tourism, see our Blog piece on The Cost of Wildlife Tourism - Primates.