The Torment of the Asian Civet Cats

A Travel Story about Cats and their tragic link to the Coffee Industry

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Dear Steemit Friends,

this is me during a motorbike tour around Vietnam. All in all, a really fun ride across astonishing landscapes,
passing by beautiful people and an interesting culture. But this post is not about how nice and shiny my last vacation has been. It's about animal welfare and why I dislike the Vietnamese coffee culture ☕☕☕

Viet Coffee Hub

This is where it all started. On a rather small coffee plantation in Vietnam's so called Central Highlands. It is the area between and around Đà Lạt and Buôn Ma Thuột - largely known as Vietnam's coffee hub and famous with coffee enthusiast all over the world.

Cat Coffee

We passed by this beautiful place in early 2017 on a sunny though fresh and windy morning. I posted this enjoyable coffee break right after purchasing 150 grams of "Kopi Luwak" coffee for around 40-50 USD. Kopi Luwak also called "Civet Coffee" is the most expensive coffee in the world and consists of digested coffee cherries eaten and defecated by the "Asian Civet Cat".

Intrigued by the outstanding taste and the good view I didn't think about how it could look like, behind those shiny curtains. Curious as I am, I asked the staff if I could look at their filling, labeling and grinding process. I wasn't really expecting to find something bad, it was just out of curiosity. It's rather normal that small coffee plantations, chocolate factories or whiskey breweries offer that kind of tour, am I right?

As you might see, the place where I took the picture of our coffee break was located well above the ground, giving us a beautiful overview of the scenery. I suspected the entire production process to take place beneath this little terrace. After the staff denied entry to the lower part of the building, I started to wonder, where all the cats could be. An Indonesian farmer once told me that civet coffee was so expensive because civets walk around freely and that it is therefore kind of difficult to collect all their excrement. But I didn't see a single cat walking around the coffee plantation.

The Discovery

_@shivaspect

I started to sneak around and then discovered a small wooden shack with approximately 20-30 small cages. I couldn't go in since the door was locked but I managed to take a picture through a gap between the wood planks. It was easy to see that the civets inside were terrified and in bad shape. Even though civets are not as cute as my fluffy "Emely" it made me sad to see how these small animals were suffering. I would like to show you many more pictures to raise awareness, but unfortunately an old woman scared me away right after I took the first shot. I have gathered two videos for you which might be interesting because they display each side of the coin. "2Chainz" celebrating life, showing off their money vs. civet cats suffering in small cages. Don´t get me wrong here! I am not assuming that the coffee in the video comes from animals that suffered. All I am saying is, that it promotes an often-cruel industry and drives just more people into purchasing this kind of coffee.

2 Chainz Drinks $600 Coffee (Made from Cat Poop) | Most Expensivest Shit | GQ

Kopi Luwak: Cruelty in Every Cup PETA

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Conclusion

I uploaded this in order to spread awareness and a clear message that all Kopi Luwak products should be avoided. I know that this problem is not nearly as important as other more pressing animal welfare topics, but it is certainly one of the easiest problems to prevent. Now that I think about it, it makes no sense at all to buy and drink this kind of expensive coffee. There is enough outstanding coffee in the world which has nothing to do with cats.

Thanks to the entire Steemit community for following, upvoting and sharing my content.
Keep up the good work!
See you soon!
|shivaspect|