Commercial civet farming practices and conservation impacts on wild civet populations in central Vietnam

Abstract

Demand for luxury wild meat and civet coffee has driven the establishment of civet farms in South-east Asia, including in Vietnam. However, little is known about the impacts of these farms on wild civet populations. In 2020, semi-structured interviews were used to explore the status and trade dynamics of 57 commercial civet farms in Lam Dong and Dak Lak provinces, Vietnam. Interviewees comprised civet farm owners as well as local government staff that were mandated to monitor these facilities. The results show that the surveyed civet farms are poorly managed by the authorities in these two provinces and that these operations pose a high level of risk to both wild civet populations and to public health. 64% of interviewed farms reported that they restocked using wild-caught civets and 63% reported disease as a cause of captive mortality, and in one instance a farm reported ~ 200 individuals died at once. A fifth of the farms interviewed kept more civets than registered with the government. High mortality and low breeding success rates were reported by 74% owners; this probably explains some of the reported dependency on using wild-caught civets for restocking. Civet farms in these two provinces are an ongoing threat to wild civet populations and also to public health; farms may currently be beyond regulatory control, and the commercial farming of civets for their meat and for civet coffee should be phased out both as a conservation and pandemic prevention mechanism.

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“…More recent research, however, has challenged this analysis and identified flaws in the method of the original research [9,85]. Civet coffee collection methods are also widely falsified [86], and although consumers are led to believe civet coffee is produced through the collection of civet faeces by Indonesian farmers, the reality is the mass farming of caged civets to meet the demand of the global market [87]. Civet coffee's global market is currently increasing and is expected to reach US $11.75 billion by 2030 [77].…”

“…While the civet coffee phenomenon originates in Indonesia, its global market growth has seen the emergence of civet coffee farms across the species' distribution, including Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, and India [77]. The capture of wild civets can take the form of caged capture or snaring, and so civets can often be inflicted with injuries through the process of wild harvesting [86]. Although civet coffee farming is permitted by law in several range countries, research has shown that civet coffee farms are often over the legal stocking density [86] or include endangered civet species [88,89].…”

“…The capture of wild civets can take the form of caged capture or snaring, and so civets can often be inflicted with injuries through the process of wild harvesting [86]. Although civet coffee farming is permitted by law in several range countries, research has shown that civet coffee farms are often over the legal stocking density [86] or include endangered civet species [88,89].…”

“…Thus, the smell, sound, and sight of other animals can cause significant psychological distress, as civets are unable to hide or increase their distance from caged neighbours. Cage-related injuries such as abrasions to paws and faces and stereotypic behaviour, including pacing and self-mutilation, are all common occurrences [26,86,90].…”

“…While it is illegal in many civet coffee-producing countries to harvest Viverrid species protected by international conservation agreements (such as binturong, which are listed as 'vulnerable' and Owston's civet, which are listed as 'endangered' by the IUCN), these protections are poorly enforced in practise [86] and the indiscriminate capture methods (particularly snaring, which is endemic throughout Vietnam, Willcox et al [95], puts all civet species (and other wildlife) at risk of physical and psychological harm. While conservation statuses are necessary to safeguard the most vulnerable species from unsustainable exploitation, conservation-based protections do not attribute value to the intrinsic interests of the individual and so overlook the relationship between individual animal welfare and the population health of a species.…”