Civet Cat Defenders to Cage Themselves in Front of Ministry Building

What:            On Wednesday, PETA supporters locked inside cages will lead a protest outside the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to call on authorities to ban civet cat farms, which produce kopi luwak, a type of coffee sourced from the excrement of civet cats, who are captured in their natural homes—typically when they’re around 6 months old—and confined to cramped cages, fed almost exclusively coffee beans, and denied everything that’s natural and important to them.

“Every cup of kopi luwak represents the suffering of sensitive civet cats who were likely tormented inside filthy, barren cages,” says PETA Senior Vice President Jason Baker. “PETA is calling on the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to shut down civet cat farms and put an end to this disgraceful industry.”

Claims of “wild-sourced” civet cat droppings have been exposed by PETA as a farce. Multiple PETA investigations have revealed that civet cats in Indonesia were shoved into small, waste-filled cages with barely any room to move around. Many of the animals had open wounds or exhibited stereotypic behavior indicative of extreme stress, such as constant pacing. Accordingly, PETA has also written to the Ministry of Religious Affairs, asking it to delist kopi luwak as a halal product due to its inherent cruelty to animals.

 Where:           Ministry of Environment and Forestry of The Republic of Indonesia, Gedung Manggala Wanabakti Blok VIII, Jalan Gatot Subroto, Jakarta

 When:             Wednesday, January 25, 12 noon sharp

 Your coverage is invited.

PETA Asia—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.

For more information, please visit PETAAsia.com or follow the group on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

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