Did you know that real weasel coffee is made from mink dung? But the story that followed was much more tragic than that.
Weasel coffee, also known as Kopi Luwak , is the rarest and most expensive specialty coffee in the world. This type of coffee is produced from coffee beans released by fruit-eating civets. Enzymes in their digestive tract change the protein structure in the coffee beans, reducing the sour taste and making the cup of coffee more delicious. A cup of weasel coffee can sell for in the US.
Inhabiting Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the civet has a long, monkey-like tail with stripes on its face and body. They play an important role in the food chain, feeding on insects and small reptiles along with fruits like coffee and mangoes.
At first, the weasel coffee trade brought many benefits to civets. In Indonesia, civets specialize in fruit-eating on farms, so they are often considered a pest. The growth of the coffee industry spurred locals to protect the civets.
Wild civets are kept in kennels for excrement. (Photo: Blogspot).
However, when weasel coffee became popular, many wild civets were caught in cages in plantations, partly to serve coffee production, partly to attract tourists.
Experts at the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Group, in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund in London, UK, assessed the living conditions of nearly 50 wild civets kept in kennels. from 16 plantations in Bali, Indonesia. The results of the study, published April 28 in the journal Animal Welfare, paint a bleak picture of the lives of many civets.
The above plantations do not meet basic animal rights requirements such as size, sanitary conditions and normal functioning of caged civets. “Some kennels are just as small as a rabbit’s cage. Inside the cages are urine and feces everywhere,” said Neil D’Cruze, a member of the research team.
Some civets are very thin, fed only coffee berries. Others are obese because they are not free to run and jump.
The most disturbing thing, according to D’Cruze, is the trellis floor design that the civets have to come into contact with throughout the day. “If you stand on a trellis for a long time, you will get sore feet and skin abrasions. The civets have no other place to hide. The trellis often cause pain and discomfort for them”, D ‘ said Cruze.
In addition, many civets do not have access to clean water and do not have the opportunity to interact with other civets. This nocturnal animal is also affected by noise from traffic and visitors.
According to experts, what makes weasel coffee special is that wild civets choose the best coffee berries to eat themselves. Confining civets in kennels and feeding them old coffee berries will result in poor quality products.