Civet Coffee: A Cup of Cruelty

Moving Animals documented the civet coffee trade in Vietnam, revealing a disturbing new dimension to the industry.

The Issue

Caged civets are being kept in appalling conditions across Southeast Asia to produce the world’s most expensive coffee - "kopi luwak". The infamous coffee - also known as ‘cat poop coffee’ - is made from coffee beans excreted by civet cats. Campaigners and animal lovers have long condemned the trade for taking civets from their forest homes and forcing them to live a life of captivity, where they suffer from depression and zoochosis. 

Marketed as a popular activity for the ‘curious' traveller, civet coffee and civet coffee farm tours are a common find along the tourist trail in Southeast Asia. Tourists drive the demand for civet coffee - even though imitation brands that mimic the chemical process are popular, and a fraction of the price.

And it’s not just travel companies that are profiting from civet coffee. Amazon and other retailers continue to sell hundreds of civet coffee products to consumers despite the cruelty involved.

While documenting in Vietnam, Moving Animals investigated the cruel trade and discovered another disturbing dimension to the industry: unable to cope with captivity, these civets are driven to self-mutilate and chew their tails down to the near-bone in anxiety and boredom.  

The visuals show caged civet cats with painful, raw tails - all so consumers can have coffee produced from these cats' feces. Yet companies, including travel businesses like Viator and Expedia, continue to profit from this suffering, with civet coffee tours a popular trend across SoutheastAsia, including Vietnam and Bali.