Commercial Civet Farming
Throughout Asia, civets are increasingly captured, transported, and housed in commercial facilities for the production of civet coffee and luxury meat. In Vietnam, civet farming is going to be a major issue for the next two decades as traditional crop, poultry and pig farming is becoming more costly and labour intensive than farming wild species. Yet civet farming in Vietnam is largely unregulated, at the detriment to civet welfare, conservation, and public health. Civet farming is not sustainable and poor captive management practices are causing biohazards for workers, local communities, and the wider ecosystem.
Through interdisciplinary research, collaborative community engagement, strategic public outreach, and effective policy change, the Civet One Health project aims to end commercial civet farming in Vietnam whilst promoting more equitable and sustainable futures for generations to come.
One Health
The One Health approach recognises that humans, non-human animals and ecosystems are each interconnected. To harm the health of one, impacts the health of others.
One Health is built on four C's: effective communication, collaboration, coordination, and capacity building between people of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally, to attain optimal health and welfare for people, animals and our environment.
Following these principles, we seek to safeguard the health and welfare of humans, civets, and the environment by decreasing the demand for civets and their farmed products.
Civet Demand
Civets are wild collected and farmed due to an increasing demand for civet coffee and civet meat.
Civet coffee is coffee that is produced through the civet's digestive tract and is widely produced in southeast Asia for the tourism sector.
Civet meat is considered a delicacy in southeast Asia and consumer demand for it has heightened in line with rising economic growth, increased house hold incomes and tourism. Civet meat is popular in restaurants, which have direct links to farmers and trappers.
The Why
Commercial civet farming is a zoonotic disease risk
Zoonotic disease is disease that can pass between animals and humans. Increased interaction between humans and wildlife, combined with unhygienic captive conditions make the emergence of new zoonotic diseases more likely. Unsanitary and welfare poor farms, wildlife markets, and restaurant kitchens can be breeding grounds for disease emergence and interspecies transmission.
In 2004, civets were confirmed as the vector of the SARS epidemic which killed 774 people and originated from wildlife farms, markets and restaurants in China. Civets do not pose a threat to humans in the wild, it is only through their exploitation that they pose a risk to human health.
Poor welfare enhances an animals susceptibility to disease, making the emergence of new pathogens with zoonotic potential even more likely.
Civets who are farmed for civet coffee and luxury meat experience significant suffering. Farms cannot meet the basic needs of civets, who are a solitary, highly territorial, and nocturnal species. Small barren cages, lack of shelter, privacy, bedding materials, and adequate nutrition, are common place in civet farms.
In attempts to cope with stress, civets develop stereotypic behaviour including pacing and self mutilation, and many suffer missing limbs and other trap-related injuries that are left untreated and open to infection. As civet coffee producers, civets are routinely force fed coffee cherries. A high caffeine diet causes acute stress, caffeine toxicity, inflammation of the digestive tract, and premature death. Lack of biosecurity places workers and visitors in greater contact with civet bodily waste.
The unregulated removal of civets from their natural habitat has a long lasting impact on plant assemblages and the biodiverse animal life that plant life supports
Civets play a fundamental role in ecosystem health as seed dispersers and germinators and their removal from the wild is only permitted from certain regions and for certain species. However, civet trade for civet coffee and luxury meat is poorly regulated.
Civet's of all species and from all habitats are captured, often without the correct permits or any permit at all. Endangered species, including the Owston's civet (Chrotogale owstoni) and the vulnerable binturong (Arctictis binturong) have been found in civet farms despite their legal protections from commercial trade. Civets are also transported across Provincial and State borders without the correct animal transport permits; and they are often transported in bags or crush cages in car boots and on the back of motorcycles without access to food, water, or rest breaks. Seized civets are unable to be reintroduced to their original habitats, which risks bringing diseases and novel species/subspecies into new regions.
The How
The Civet Project Foundation's Civet One Health program is a long-term commitment to ending civet farming in southeast Asia. By applying a one health and one welfare approach to commercial civet farming, we work with local communities and regional stakeholders to meet the best interests for people, civets and the environment. To achieve our mission to end commercial civet farming, we have set out three principles to our program:
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Reduce Demand
We research the trends and motivations for civet coffee and civet meat consumption. Equipped with an in-depth understanding of end-user demographics, we reduce demand for civet products through effective outreach and educational strategies. We work collaboratively with local communities and businesses to protect people, civets, and the environment.
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Change Policy
Working towards the goal of stopping commercial civet farming, we produce policy recommendations to governments in civet range countries. We communicate our evidence-based recommendations directly to policymakers, to strengthen laws to protect people, civets, and the environment from commercial wildlife farming.
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Support Sustainability
We work with local communities and business owners to build capacity for more sustainable, safe, and ethical farming practices. We coordinate networking, knowledge sharing and interdisciplinary opportunities for people in civet range countries, to meet global sustainability and environmental targets.
The Who
The Civet Project Foundation's Civet One Health program is supported by our generous partners. Together, we will stop commercial civet farming in southeast Asia.
If you would like to support the Civet One Health program as a partner, please email:
Dr Jes Hooper: jes@thecivetproject.com
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