This is pique orientalism.
1. Thailand has animal welfare law. Blanket boycott on coconuts is a misuse of both legal and political device. Don't punish majority of farms who do not use monkeys.
(/1)
Supermarkets snub coconut goods picked by monkeys https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53276071

(/2) Monkeys have been domesticated for fruit gatherings in Southeast Asia for the last 1000 years. Lopburi was one of the many places with evidence that people kept monkeys as pets. The relationship is symbiotic.

(/3) It's wrong to conflate circus monkey training with coconut plantation monkeys. Monkeys in farms are not the same as those in shows.

(/4) Keeping monkeys as part of farm life allows them to co-exist with humans without being pushed into urban pest. The reduction of orchard culture in many parts of Thailand have led to a dilemma between where monkeys can exist and how humans can interact with them.

(/5) It's better to push for animal welfare persecution in farms where there are inhuman treatments. Banning coconuts put farmers out of job in an already volatile situation simultaneously jeopardises how they can care for the monkeys.

#Thailand #coconuts #monkeys #AnimalWelfare

Here's an image of terracotta figurines found across sites in Central Thailand depicting monkey domestication. #monkeys #Thailand #animals #AnimalRights