Drusillas Park Zoo raises awareness for the unethical side of the world's 'priciest coffee' this World Binturong Day

This World Binturong Day, Drusillas Park are urging the public to wake up and smell the cruelty behind ‘Civet Coffee’ or ‘Kopi Luwak’: an exotic and expensive type of coffee produced when civets and binturongs digest and defecate coffee beans.

Partially digested seeds might not sound very appetising, but the coffee brewed from these beans is considered a rare delicacy and sold by some luxury retailers in the UK for as much as £500 for 250g!

And the exploitation of civets and binturongs to produce the trendy coffee is even more unsavoury. Global demand is now so high that civets (small catlike mammals) – and sometimes binturongs mistaken or substituted for them – are being captured in the wild, caged, and force-fed coffee cherries in horrendous conditions across Southeast Asia.

Not only does this put the already vulnerable populations of these animals at risk, it also disrupts the fragile ecosystems in the Southeast Asian rainforests they live in and even fuels the exotic pet trade.

Drusillas Zoo in Sussex has provided a loving home for binturongs for over 20 years and last year, sister charity Drusillas Conservation in Action, joined forces with The Civet Project to launch a species pledge for binturong, aiming to protect them from threats such as civet coffee.

Dr Jes Hooper, Founder of the Civet Project Foundation, said, ”It might be known as the most expensive and rare coffee in the world, but the reality of civet coffee is much darker. Across Southeast Asia, civets and binturong are captured, caged and force-fed coffee with devastating consequences for welfare, conservation, and human health.”

On World Binturong Day, to help raise money and awareness around the issue, Drusillas donated 50% of all coffee sales and 50% of all binturong plush sales to The Civet Project to help fund their essential conservation work for this amazing species.

This includes the Civet One Health project; a new initiative, funded by Dusillas Conservation in Action and Dudley Zoo and Castle, focused on targeting exploitation in the unethical civet coffee farming industry.

The aim is to raise £5000 to enable The Civet Project to engage with local farmers in Vietnam, raise awareness among consumers about the cruel practices associated with Kopi Luwak, and advocate for policy changes to halt the practice of commercial civet farming.

Mark Kenward, Drusillas Zoo Animal Manager said: “To mark World Binturong Day on the 10th May, Drusillas want to make more people aware of the exploitation behind Kopi Luwak and how it is driving suffering for binturongs and civets.”

He continued: “Although we are not currently home to civet species, we take immense pride in caring for the vulnerable binturong, part of the civet family. Many people have never heard of civets or binturongs, which is just one of the reasons that the animal exploitation and cruelty associated with producing civet coffee has gone under the radar.”

“Some brands of Kopi Luwak claim the coffee beans have been foraged when wild animals leave droppings behind. However, this is unlikely to provide the volume of beans required to keep up with this coffee trend. The sad reality is that due to the popularity of civet coffee, the poaching of civet and binturong species is now incentivised.”

Often called a ‘bearcat’ due to its bearlike facial features and feline gait, the binturong is a little-known species, currently categorised as ‘vulnerable’ by the IUCN Red List - their numbers are believed to have declined by more than 30% in the last three decades.

Zoos such as Drusillas are working hard to raise awareness of the species and the threats binturongs face and help prevent extinction with specialist breeding programs to help maintain their population.

To find out more and support the Civet Project go to: The Civet Project

For more information on Drusillas Conservation in Action go to: Drusillas Conservation in Action