Cincinnati-based grocery giant Kroger has finally stopped selling a brand of coconut milk that uses captive monkey labor in its production.
After an extended campaign by animal rights organization PETA, Kroger has joined 30,000 stores —including Albertsons, Safeway, Wegmans, Costco, Target, Food Lion and Stop & Shop — in suspending the sale of Chaokoh coconut milk.
The Thai company came under fire by PETA and general humans with beating hearts after it was uncovered by a PETA Asia investigation (don't click on this link if you don't want to watch monkeys being abused) that they were using chained and caged monkeys to harvest coconuts from trees.
"When not being forced to pick coconuts or perform in circus-style shows for tourists, the animals were kept tethered, chained to old tires, or confined to cages barely larger than their bodies, deprived of any semblance of a life," said PETA. "Many monkeys displayed repetitive behavior indicative of extreme mental anguish, including one who chewed on his own limbs. One coconut farmer confirmed that when monkeys are terrified and try to defend themselves, handlers pull their teeth out."
The campaign against Kroger started in August 2020 when Go-Go's singer Belinda Carlisle, who now lives in Thailand, wrote a letter to Kroger on behalf of PETA asking them to ban Chaokoh from their stores.
Then in November, PETA dropped a "big, fat pile of (humanely picked) coconuts" at Kroger's downtown headquarters.
And this past December, PETA put Kroger on its Naughty List, a collection of the "11 top animal-offending companies" in the U.S.
PETA has said its is ending its campaign against Kroger, which also included a billboard near a Kroger store, people protesting in monkey suits outside of Kroger, tens of thousands of emails and more.
“Every can of coconut milk purchased from Chaokoh represents the misery of a chained-up monkey,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman in a release. “Any grocery store still buying from this brand after PETA’s exposés of coconut cruelty risks losing compassionate shoppers, so Kroger made the right call.”
PETA is now focusing on Walmart and Publix, which still carry Chaokoh.
For more information, visit PETA.org.
