Kroger is one of the few coconut milk brands still sold that do forced labor with monkeys
For immediate publication:
22nd September 2020
Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382
Cincinnati – Rodney McMullen, CEO of Kroger, will receive a special delivery courtesy of PETA this week: a set of fresh, human-extracted coconuts to remind him that selling products made by forced labor from monkeys is coconuts are.
Although monkeys in Thailand are chained, separated from their peers, insane and forced to climb trees to pick coconuts for coconut milk sold by Chaokoh, Kroger is one of the few holdouts still selling the brand in Thailand in barren environments. More than 25,000 stores around the world – including chains Walgreens, Giant and Food Lion – pledged not to sell any monkey-derived coconut products after PETA told them of the cruelty demonstrated in their synopsis of this practice in the Thai coconut industry was revealed.
“Coconuts are cute, but the way monkeys are robbed and exploited in Thailand to pick them is anything but,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “Smart, sensitive primates don’t deserve to be subjected to bitter lives of forced labor.”
The group has also sent coconuts and letters to the CEOs of other holdouts – including Costco, Publix, and Woodman’s – asking them to reconsider their relationship with Chaokoh.
PETA – whose motto is in part: “We must not abuse animals in any way” – opposes speciesism, which is a human supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.
PETA’s letter to McMullen follows.
22nd September 2020
Rodney McMullen
Chairman
Kroger
Dear Mr. McMullen,
Greetings from PETA. We salute you for bringing delicious vegan meats, cheeses, and other products to your compassionate customers, and we now urge you to take action to resolve an issue that affects them. We have sent you these coconuts in hopes of opening a dialogue to review your relationship with Chaokoh, a brand sold by your company and involved in a recent PETA Asia exposé of the Thai coconut industry.
This investigation found that Chaokoh is complicit in an industry that forces monkeys – who are locked up for life, sometimes with teeth removed, always on chains, and often insanely, from losing everything that is natural and important to them – to Collect coconuts. It appears that most (if not all) of the monkeys used in the coconut industry are illegally captured in their natural habitat as babies. Then they endure abusive training.
The monkeys are isolated from their peers as they are tied up for their lives, transported in cages, and forced to climb trees to collect coconuts. The animals kept in captivity show stereotypical behaviors, such as B. endless circling. Similar abuse was found in all 13 randomly selected locations.
Monkeys are used to make coconuts made from Chaokoh coconut milk, which your chain sells. In contrast, more than 25,000 other stores have pledged not to buy products from companies that rely on monkey labor.
We’d love to work together to get cruel source coconut products off your shelves. May we hear from you, please? Please call our office as soon as possible.
With best regards,
Ingrid E. Newkirk
president
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