Atiqa Hazellah New Straits Times 24 Oct 13;
ABUSE: This is to prevent cruelty to catlike animals
KUALA LUMPUR: ANIMAL protection group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) has called on Malaysians to boycott kopi luwak, or civet coffee, saying that animal abuse was part of the production of the coffee beans.
Peta Asia vice president (international operations) Jason Baker said most of the civets producing the famous coffee were confined to cages and subjected to cruel, unnatural treatment.
"Purchasing a product that's the direct result of animal abuse supports the abuse, which is why Peta is asking consumers to boycott civet coffee."
He said that the abuse was worse than drinking a beverage derived from beans pulled from animal excrement.
"Although unappetising, drinking coffee made from beans that were plucked from faeces isn't the most revolting aspect of civet coffee."
Kopi luwak is made out of coffee beans that are eaten and then excreted by Asian palm civets -- a small grey and black cat-like mammal that inhabits Asian forests.
After passing through the animal's digestive tract, it's said that the beans become less acidic and acquire a "smooth and unique" taste.
A Peta Asia investigator who visited civet coffee farms in Indonesia and the Philippines documented that the catlike creatures were confined to tiny and filthy cages which made them suffer from malnutrition and skin infections.
"Undercover video footage showed how the civets incessantly pace, spin and bob their heads -- indications that they're going insane from confinement and depression."
Peta alleged that the companies had put a wild-sourced label on its packaging, when actually its coffee came from caged civets.
"Even though it is impossible to produce large amounts of coffee from beans excreted by wild civets, some of the farms that kept civets advertise their beans as 'wild-sourced'."
The group also found that civets were generally caged for a maximum of three years before being released back into the wild, where some failed to readapt and died.
The video footage from Peta's investigation can be found at PETAAsiaPacific.com.
