Over 200 Animal Welfare Organisations Unite for Civets

Fur caught on rusted cage in a civet coffee tourist attraction. (Photo credit: Jack Wootton, The Civet Project).

Following the disappointing news that Tripadvisor have reversed their commitment to stop selling tickets to cruel civet coffee tours, two open letters have now been signed by over 200 animal welfare organisations across Asia - each backing the Civet Project's call for immediate action to protect civets from tourism cruelty.

What is civet coffee?

Civet coffee (often known as kopi luwak) is a purportedly luxury coffee, made using coffee beans that have passed through the digestive system of civets, small nocturnal mammals endemic to Asia. Civet coffee has long been known for it's cruel production methods, wherein civets are captured from the wild and held in small barren cages where they are force fed coffee. As animal welfare research has consistently shown, the most basic of animal needs cannot be achieved for civets in civet coffee production and tourism facilities. Yet the civet coffee industry is booming. According to Straits Research, the civet coffee industry is expected to reach a net worth of $10.9billion USD by 2030, an industry driven by tourism.

A report published by The Civet Project Foundation in 2024 found that civet coffee experiences were sold to tourists by all ten of the world's most popular travel platforms- nine of which claimed to have animal welfare policies. Of the most popular was Tripadvisor, which despite including civet coffee experiences in it's animal welfare policy, was found to have 365 active listings across seven countries, and only 2% of these were attributed an animal welfare consumer warning.

In response to the report, Tripadvisor (alongside Booking.com, TUI, Klook, Viator and AirBnb) agreed to stop selling tickets to civet coffee attractions immediately, and to list all their civet coffee review pages with animal welfare warnings. One year on, however, there remains over 300 civet coffee listings on Tripadvisor. Despite their promise, civet coffee tourism is widely promoted and sold on Tripadvisor, a direct violation of their own animal welfare policy. Tripadvisor are actively profiting from civet cruelty.

Open Letter to Tripadvisor

The first of the open letters to protect civets has been sent directly to the President and CEO of the Tripadvisor Group, Matt Goldberg. Calling on immediate action to stop the sale and false marketing of civet coffee tourism on the Tripadvisor platform, the letter comprises 205 signatures from the Asia for Animals (AfA) coalition- the largest animal advocacy network in the world.

Open Letter to the UK Government

The second letter, directed to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed, and signed by 204 AfA members, calls for the UK Government to develop the ‘activity regulations’ required to make the already passed Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 actionable by the tourism industry.

Currently, the legislation states that UK consumers should not be subject to advertising of animal-based tourism experiences abroad that include cruelty to animals. Yet, the bill does not include a list of animal activities abroad that would be prohibited by law to be marketed or sold in the UK. It is therefore currently at the discretion of tourism operators as to whether they commit to or abide by their own animal welfare policies and what types of attractions are included therein. If successful, the inclusion of civet coffee in this law would mean that organisations such as Tripadvisor would be legally required to stop selling civet coffee attractions to UK consumers.

Speaking on the significance of these open letters, Dr Jes Hooper, Founder of the Civet Project Foundation stated:

"These appeal letters have received the most number of signatures of any appeal letter to date, which sends a very powerful message to both Tripadvisor and the UK Government. We are not alone in our conviction that civet coffee tourism cannot and does not meet basic animal welfare needs, and systemic action is needed to protect these animals from continued and reckless exploitation. Tourist's don't want to see or fund animal cruelty. We are hopeful that our letters will show the scale of support for policy strengthening and implementation."

How to Help

Write to your MP: Download our template letter and send it to your local MP, asking them to support the development of activity regulations that include civet coffee tourism in the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023. Sign our petition: Add your voice to our Tripadvisor call by signing our petition. Please make sure to check your emails to verify your signature, otherwise it will not count.