Fighting the Civet Farming Industry in Vietnam

Conserving Owsten’s Civet populations

Mandai Nature supports Save Vietnam’s Wildlife (SVW) work on the long-term protection of remaining Owsten’s Civet populations in Vietnam.

In April 2019, the first ever Owston’s Civet conservation planning workshop was held with more than 50 stakeholders gathered in Hanoi to discuss threats to the species, barriers to achieving its conservation, goals and actions. A key outcome from the workshop is the need for an ex situ conservation breeding programme as part of the long term conservation efforts.

Progress is underway for the development of a breeding facility to initiate the conservation breeding programme for the Owsten’s Civet within its range, using rescued individuals as well as founders from other ex situ facilities.

Changing behaviours around civet coffee
 

Touted the world’s most expensive coffee in the world, Kopi Luwak is coffee made from beans digested by a civet. The popularity of this coffee has resulted in civet farming, with the animals kept in poor conditions and further ongoing hunting of civets from the wild.  To influence law enforcement around wildlife trade with science-based evidence, SVW is also conducting research on the dynamics of civet coffee farming, including conducting interviews with civet coffee and civet meat farm owners, and observing captive conditions of the animals in these farms.

In 2021, SVW launched a website and social media channels to raise awareness on the impacts of civet farming, civet coffee and civet meat consumption in restaurants, potential disease risks and civet conservation.

With increased awareness on these issues, SVW hopes to bring about positive behaviour change in how consumers, governments, and wider society view the use or consumption of wildlife, including civets.