Animal rights group PETA raises howl against civet coffee

The world's most expensive coffee is the cruelest beverage to produce, an animal rights group claimed Wednesday, a part of the growing clamor against cruelty to civet cats. 

 

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia-Pacific is appealing to coffee lovers worldwide to stop patronizing civet coffee because the civet cats used in the output process supposedly live in cramped cages as manufacturers secure the production of the pricey drink. 

 

PETA Asia-Pacific released a video Wednesday, which showed a civet cat exhibiting what appears to be neurotic behavior while in captivity at a civet coffee farm in Davao City. The group claimed the less than two-minute video consisted of an undercover footage of civet cats, also called alamid, in Dizon’s Mt. Apo Civet Coffee Farm, where the animals were pacing incessantly inside wooden cages. 

 

 

Civets going crazy?

Such restlessness indicate they were going insane from boredom and depression for being confined in a a cramped space, PETA noted. 

 

"In their natural habitat, civets frequently climb trees to reach the ripe coffee berries, but in captivity they are fed more of the ripe fruit than would ever be natural for them. The stress of confinement and lack of nutrition cause them to lose their fur," it said. 

 

In an interview with GMA News Online, Mt. Apo Civet Coffee owner Sonny Dizon shared a different view to things. 

 

While the cats are kept in cages, they live under "sustainable conditions" and are well taken cared of, he said.

 

Dizon noted that harvesting coffee beans from civet cats is his company's way of making use of the animals considered as pests by local farmers. His privately-owned Crocodile Park in Davao City is the official rescue center for civets caught in the wild.

 

"My hands are tied since people and concerned groups turn over the cats to us. Farmers complain the cats eat their chickens but they don't want to kill them. The cats end up staying with us. While it's true that the animals are caged, we make sure they are treated properly," he said.

 

Civet coffee – made out of coffee beans excreted by a civet cat after eating the berries – is considered as the world's most expensive coffee because of its rarity and novel production process. A kilogram of civet coffee beans retails for at least P2,000. Some upscale coffee shops offer brewed civet coffee for up to P350 a cup.

 

In the Philippines, civet coffee beans were originally harvested in the wild by farmers in the mountainous areas of Benguet, Palawan, South Cotabato and Davao. But due to rising demand, some entrepreneurs decided to build civet coffee farms where the cats are kept in cages to produce coffee beans.

In tiny cages

 

Dizon said in a 2011 interview with the Philippine Information Agency that he built the farm for two purposes: to produce civet coffee and to save civet cats from being killed by farmers who consider them as pests.

 

“Civet cats are a farmer’s biggest enemy as they are considered pests in the farm. The only way these farmers could get rid of them is by killing these animals. So I thought that there must be something we could make use of these civets that farmers could also take advantage of,” he said.

 

Dizon said was able to help coffee farmers earn more by buying the best coffee bean products from them to feed the civets. 

 

The Mt. Apo Civet Coffee farm is said to produce 60 to 90 parchments of civet coffee every week, which are then sold to buyers all over the Philippines and even abroad. According to the Coffee Guide online, 60 kgs of green coffee represents 75 kg of parchment.  

 

PETA  said it is cruel to keep civet cats in tiny cages because the animals are deprived of freedom to live in the wild and socialize with their ilk.

 

The group said the problem of civet cruelty is made worst by some companies that label beans as "wild-sourced" even if the beans actually came from animals in cages.

 

According to PETA,  sources from the civet coffee industry said producing large amounts of coffee from wild-roaming cats is impossible as the animals do not always excrete enough beans of commercial quantity.

Business excellence award

 

An article published on TIME.com on October 2 called the civet coffee industry a "cruel cynical scam" because the mass production of civet beans has only been possible by keeping cats in cramped cages.

 

PETA campaigns manager Rochelle Regodon said evidence of civet cat abuse should prompt coffee lovers to stop drinking the pricey coffee. 

 

"Although unappetizing, drinking coffee made from beans that were plucked from feces isn't the most revolting aspect of civet coffee... Purchasing a product that's the direct result of animal abuse supports that abuse, which is why PETA is asking consumers to boycott civet coffee," she said.

 

In a separate e-mail message, Dizon said that if he is guilty of abusing civet cats in the farm, his park would not have been awarded as the best wildlife conservation park in the 2013 Golden Globe Annual Awards for Business Excellence.

 

"[If it's true ] that we maltreat animals... Why then did we get an award for conservation?" he added. – VS, GMA News