Long-tailed macaques trained to harvest coconuts in parts of Southeast Asia are kept chained, deprived of social contact, and subjected to training methods that cause documented stress and behavioral abnormalities.
Macaques are highly social primates with complex behavioral repertoires that are entirely suppressed by chaining and isolation. The training process involves aversive conditioning that creates chronic fear responses. Animals kept in isolation show stereotypic behaviors consistent with psychological distress. Consumer and retailer pressure has already shifted some supply chain practices — demonstrating that this is a welfare problem amenable to market-based change.