Civet Selfies: A Documentary
Scope
Civet Selfies: Animal Welfare on Holiday
This documentary will film, for the first time, the impact of civet coffee on Vietnam’s wildlife through first hand footage of civet coffee tourism, civet rescue and rehabilitation. Footage will include interviews with conservationists and animal welfare experts working on the ground to deal with the fall-out from the civet coffee industry.
Acting as a spring board to highlight the issue of unethical wildlife tourism more broadly, this documentary will showcase the variety of ways animals are exploited for tourism. The documentary will provide travellers with the knowledge needed to make ethical and sustainable activities that support local economies and wildlife.
Given the lack of civet representation in the NGO space, and the lack of informational resources available to travellers and tourism operators regarding civet coffee, this film will provide much needed outreach materials.
This documentary project sets out to achieve:
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The removal of civet coffee from TripAdvisor, the largest tourist review site in the world
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Greater representation of civets in NGO campaigns for responsible animal-based tourism
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Enhanced public awareness of the issues associated with civet coffee production and tourism
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Public promotion of ethical wildlife tourism
Dissemination
Documentary & Social Media Content
This documentary will be suitable for promoting key campaign messages concerning animal consumption and tourism practices, as demonstrated through the lens of the civet- a poorly represented species within the NGO space. The following materials will be available for sponsors to disseminate as part of their campaigns:
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A series of social media show reels (suitable for Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube)
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A series of marketing images
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The documentary trailer
Sponsors
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Support Civets
For more information on the documentary and how you can be involved, please download our informational pdf.
To become a documentary sponsor, please register your interest using the 'register interest' button, or email: info@thecivetproject.com
Why is Civet Coffee Bad?
Curb cruelty: Make Civet Coffee History
Civet coffee (also known as 'kopi luwak', 'weasel coffee', and 'cat-poo-chino') is coffee that has been partially digested by the civet, a nocturnal cat-like animal. Although civet coffee was first discovered in Indonesia 300 years ago, it was in the early 2000’s that it reached international fame when it was featured on the ‘Oprah Winfrey show’ and in the Hollywood film ‘the Bucket List’.
Since then, the international civet coffee market has continued to grow, and its market value is now expected to reach an estimated $10.9billion USD by 2030.
To meet this high global consumer demand, civets are now captured from the wild so that they can create civet coffee en mass. Captured civets are kept in small, barren, cages where they are fed nothing but coffee beans. Civets often die from caffeine toxicity, dehydration, or stress, and many suffer severe injuries from their confinement and their capture.
As the market has continued to grow, civet coffee farming has spread across Asia, from Indonesia to Singapore, Vietnam, and India, and civet coffee tourism is now widely advertised to tourists.
Shortly after its Hollywood feature, for example, civet coffee tourism in Bali proliferated- a direct result of international demand. In civet coffee tours, travellers can hold, pet, and pose with wild civets. Images on Trip Advisor and social media show obese, injured, and even drugged civets used as props for tourists to pose with.
Civet coffee is also found in cities across the world, from London to Paris as well as Asia. In Hanoi, the streets are filled with civet coffee cafes, though mostly civet coffee is farmed behind closed doors, where the true extent of it's cruelty can go unnoticed. In these private farms, a variety of civet species can be found, including those that are endangered.
One of the world's most endangered civets, the Owston’s civet, is found in Vietnam. Owston’s civets are now also at risk from the civet coffee industry and the indiscriminate snaring which supplies it. Not only do snares cause horrific injuries, but the intensity of snaring is pushing Owston’s civets ever closer to extinction.
Yet still, civet coffee continues to grow in popularity across the world. Still, civet coffee tourism is promoted widely to coffee enthusiasts and to travellers. With our documentary, we are calling on animal NGOs, and the tourism and coffee industries to join our call- to make civet coffee history.
