When I heard that coconut products from Thailand had been banned from supermarkets in London, as a result of a campaign by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), I wasn't surprised. Peta is known to take the welfare of all types of animals seriously.
Media reports say Peta claimed the monkeys had been "snatched from the wild and cruelly trained" to pick coconuts, like coconut-picking machines. The organisation went on to say that a male monkey was made to pick up to 1,000 coconuts a day, compared to 80 by a human. The agency said it came to its conclusions after visiting eight coconut plantations.
In its widely viewed video clip, some monkeys are chained while others seemed to be frustrated and bewildered, probably because they were confined in a very small cage. Such a sight was deemed to be cruel by Peta, which has already slammed the "cruel" production of foie gras in which ducks and geese are forced-fed, to get the most out of the poor creatures. Peta has also convinced people to use jackets made from high-tech vegan materials, rather than duck feathers to deter cruelty against animals.
I understand Peta's good intentions and I couldn't agree more that no creatures on earth should be treated inhumanely and unfairly...but I also think Peta has little or zero understanding of the eastern way of life.
Worse, our government issued a knee-jerk reaction to the report.
The commerce ministry said it would invite foreign ambassadors to witness how monkeys had been raised and trained.
A friend who used to work on coconut plantations believes Peta might have carefully chosen pictures that made those involved appear abusive.
He has seen the use of monkeys as coconut pickers since he was young and questioned if Peta's visits to eight coconut plantations represented the whole industry in Thailand.
The caged monkey was probably in transit and it's impossible to let monkeys ride free in the back of a pickup. Moreover, old coconut trees are more than 20 metres high and while they're too dangerous for men to climb it's an easy job for monkeys.
I can't agree more with my friend because I also see it as a part of the local way of life in which people treat an animal as a helper and at the same time almost a family member. It's not industrial level.
I remember visiting families, in the South, where they train monkeys to pick coconuts and do some other jobs, such as small shows. Although I didn't see how these monkeys had been trained, there was no evidence of any cruelty or of the animals being forced to do anything outside their natural ability. I used to see clips that showed dogs walking on two hind legs. That looked cute but, of course, they had been trained to do something unnatural.
The monkeys I saw were also well fed and lived in almost the same conditions as their owners. Those growing up in the city may not understand this.
Mentioning this, I'm not saying all monkeys, and other animals, in Thailand are being treated well and fairly. At the same time, I am not trying to convince anyone that the Thai way of life is the best. I'm sure there are creatures here, even humans, who are badly treated by cruel owners and employers. indeed, some of our traditional practices may no longer be acceptable.
It's understandable that a monkey has to be leashed, preventing it from running away. But no animal should be leashed on a chain so short that it is impossible to move, or be crammed inside a small cage for long periods, or forced to work from sunrise to sunset.
On the other hand, instead of getting upset at Peta for raising suggestions of possible inhumane treatment of animals, it's time we started to take the subject more seriously.
Also, instead of just telling foreign ambassadors and overseas importers, the government might consider this a good time to look into the matter and see if coconut growers and the pickers (who are using the monkeys) are being fairly paid while supplying coconuts to the middlemen, before reaching factories.
The government also has a duty to make sure of the monkeys' welfare.
The move by Peta may not be all negative -- it will probably result in an improvement of the monkeys' living conditions and ensure their owners get the wages they deserve.
That is probably something the government overlooked.