Zoos play vital role to educate consumers about the risks of online “Cat-Poo-Chino”

Zoos urged to educate visitors in lead up to Christmas after charity investigation reveals widespread fraud in civet coffee sales on Amazon, eBay and Etsy

A new investigation by animal welfare and conservation charity The Civet Project Foundation, supported by international animal welfare organisation Wild Welfare, has uncovered rampant fraud and serious animal welfare concerns linked to the online sale of civet coffee, often dubbed “cat-poo-chino”, on major eCommerce platforms including Amazon, eBay, and Etsy.

Civet coffee, or kopi luwak, is marketed as a luxury product made from coffee beans that have passed through the digestive tract of civets, small nocturnal mammals native to Southeast Asia. Once hailed as the rarest and most expensive coffee in the world, with some cups priced as high as £50, civet coffee has become a symbol of exotic indulgence. However, The Civet Project’s investigation paints a much darker picture of civet coffee’s origins and the market behind it.

Following a surge in global demand, sparked by its appearance in the 2007 film The Bucket List, civet coffee has evolved into a multi-billion-dollar industry. Instead of collecting beans from wild civet droppings as often claimed, producers are now capturing wild civets, confining them in dirty barren cages, and force-feeding them coffee cherries under harrowing conditions.

“These animals suffer immensely in captivity,” the charity reports. “Wild civets are caught using inhumane methods, suffer severe injuries, and are confined without proper care, biosecurity, or veterinary oversight.” This not only violates animal welfare standards, but also poses a significant public health risk, as civets have been identified as potential vectors for diseases including SARS and COVID-19.

Beyond the animal cruelty concerns, the environmental cost is also severe. Civets play a vital ecological role as seed dispersers and pest controllers. Their removal from the wild is contributing to biodiversity loss and environmental degradation across Southeast Asia.

Key Findings

Despite the UK public's growing demand for ethical sourcing and high animal welfare standards, the investigation, detailed in the newly published “Industry Leaders Report 2025: Tackling Civet Coffee Consumption (eCommerce)”, found:

• Every civet coffee product that claimed certification from named organisations for being 'wild collected' or 'cage-free' was either fraudulent or untraceable.
• Sellers falsely claimed certification from organisations such as WWF, Rainforest Alliance, and World Animal Protection, all of whom confirmed no affiliation with civet coffee
• All claims of ethical sourcing or animal welfare standards were found to be fraudulent or untraceable
• These misleading practices violate UK consumer protection laws, including the CMA Green Code and the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024
• The consumer standards, animal welfare, environmental and sustainability issues associated with civet coffee products actively breach seven platform policies employed by Ebay, Amazon and Etsy.

Despite having clear policies against misleading claims, all three platforms were found to be hosting sellers in breach of their own rules, highlighting a serious enforcement gap; and the scale of the issue is alarming.

Between May and August 2025, over 182kg kilograms of civet coffee were available for sale on UK-facing eCommerce sites. Despite its supposed rarity, some products were listed for as little as £15.67 per packet.

In response to the multitude of policy violations involved in the sale of civet coffee, The Civet Project is calling on Amazon, eBay, and Etsy to immediately classify civet coffee as a prohibited item and to ban its sale on their platforms. The charity is also urging consumers to boycott civet coffee this Christmas and beyond.

The Role of Zoos: Combating the Trade's Impact

While the online trade of civet coffee fuels a civet welfare and conservation crisis, UK zoos are on the front lines working to project civets with the help of The Civet Project!
 

Public Education

Zoos engage hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. More and more zoos are taking part in World Civet Day (04/04 each year) and many are now integrating civet coffee consumer education into their interpretive exhibits and public talks. These key conservation messages disrupt the consumer demand for civet coffee, which is driving the conservation and animal welfare consequences for civets in their range countries.

By supporting initiatives like The Civet Project zoos are a vital first step in initiating the behavioural change needed to reduce consumer demand and empower visitors to make ethical choices. As Dr Jes Hooper, CEO of The Civet Project Foundation, explains:

“Zoos hold a powerful place in the fight against the civet coffee industry by highlighting the trade's devastating impacts to their visitors. UK consumers have shown time and again that animal welfare is an important consideration when deciding what products to buy and from whom. Fake civet coffee certification claims on e-commerce platforms purposely misleads consumers into financially supporting cruel products. We are grateful to all the zoos who are helping us share the truth with their visitors and hope that even more zoos with Viverrid residents take up this opportunity.”

Captive Breeding Programs

Many zoos in the UK actively contribute towards ex-situ civet breeding programs. For example, Newquay Zoo, Shaldon Wildlife Trust, and Thrigby Hall Wildlife Gardens, are part of the European breeding programme for the Endangered Owston's Civet. UK zoos are also conserving the Vulnerable Binturong. Drusillas Park in Sussex, for example, recently saw the successful birth of ‘Boots’, a beautiful baby binturong, contributing to the European breeding programme.

Collaborative Partnerships

Drusillas Park, Shaldon Zoo and Dudley Zoo have each become official partners of The Civet Project Foundation, with their combined partnership pledge being used to fund a Project Officer for The Civet Project Foundation’s flagship Civet One Health program in Vietnam- Asia’s first conservation program designed to end the cruel commercial farming and trafficking of civet species.

Together, this collaboration is driving meaningful change for civets in the wild by reducing trapping and consumption behaviours and inspiring greater public pride in civet protection.

Summary

Whilst the charity's industry investigation has shown there is much work that needs to be done to end the cruel civet coffee industry, it has also given zoos greater potential to enhance their Viverrid education messaging.

The Civet Project Foundation urges all zoos that hold Viverrids in their collections, to support their efforts to reduce the consumer demand in civet coffee in the lead up to this Christmas’ gift-giving season.