Tomorrow, PETA supporters dressed as monkeys will leave hundreds of humanely picked coconuts at Ralphs—a Kroger subsidiary—to remind the company that it’s nuts to do business with Thailand’s Chaokoh brand. A PETA Asia investigation has revealed that Chaokoh forces monkeys—who are kept caged and chained for life—to pick coconuts used in coconut milk products. PETA has also sent coconuts to the homes of Kroger executives and previously dumped the fruit at the doors of Kroger’s headquarters.

When:    Thursday, February 11, 12 noon

Where:    Ralphs, 645 W. Ninth St., Los Angeles

PETA Asia’s investigators found cruelty to monkeys on every farm, at every monkey-training facility, and in every coconut-picking contest that used monkey labor. 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. 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, their canine teeth may be pulled out.

“Milk from coconuts picked by abused monkeys doesn’t belong on grocery shelves any more than monkeys belong on those chains,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is calling on Ralphs to reject products of forced monkey labor.”

More than 28,000 other stores—including chains Target, Wegmans, Costco, Walgreens, Food Lion, and Stop & Shop—have banned coconut milk brands that use coconuts picked by monkeys.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

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