In Thailand, while coconuts were claimed to be the result of the forced exploitation of monkeys' labor force, local famous supermarket chains declared that they would not sell coconut products produced by exploitation of these animal labor forces.
PETA ASIA, an animal protection organization in Asia, has long argued that the use of monkeys by coconut planters to pick up coconuts is a cruelty to animals.
Local industry has been using monkeys' labor instead of humans, claiming that using monkeys to harvest coconuts is not harmful to monkeys and that Western tourists enjoy it.
In southern Thailand, there is an institution that trains monkeys, and monkeys are usually trained for 3 to 5 months.
PETA Asia claims that the monkeys who arrive at the coconut plantations are forced to pull out of the coconuts, which are much heavier than their own weight, and are forced to move the coconuts dropped from the tree to the crate.
In addition, brutal abuse continues, such as pulling teeth in preparation for rebelling or attacking the person who does the work, and most of them are tied to a string and must climb a tree to pick up coconuts.
Monkeys are have to pick up maximum 1600 coconuts per day. When a person is harvested, it is common to pick up to 80 coconuts per day.