Peter Roberts, a PhD student at Oxford Brookes University has been studying the Asian Palm Civet since 2013. He launched a Crowdfunder campaign to raise £5,000 to learn more about their natural habitats and roles in the wild. At the moment, many of these beautiful creatures are being captured, caged, and force fed coffee berries to produce this rare coffee bean. Many of them die because of the inadequate conditions they are in. Peter hopes that by funding this project he can help improve their treatment in captivity.
Let’s face it, most of us love coffee; we simply can’t function without it. An E-Imports post on coffee stats in 2014 says that on average Americans drink 3.1 cups of coffee per day and that, “Specialty coffee sales are increasing by 20% per year and account for nearly 8% of the 18 billion dollar U.S. coffee market.“ Kopi Luwak is one of the most expensive coffees in the world – collected after being eaten (and excreted) by the Asian Palm Civet. The site, Cat’s Ass Coffee, whose slogan is “Quite possibly, the best s**t on earth”, is selling 100g bags (1/4lb) for $79.99. Roberts’ campaign page explains:
“We aim to use the funding to capture the civets and other small carnivores in the study area and fit them with radio collars so that we can follow them. Doing this project will add vital information to what is known about the ecology of the species and its relationships to other species and humans too. It will also provide employment for local people in the village near the study site to help monitor and conserve the species locally.”
The campaign is running until February 21and has raised £150 so far. Unfortunately this bring us to the age old question when it comes to research – where should we put our money? What is the best cause to choose? Crowdfunding was not Roberts’ first choice. An article by The Guardian notes that,
“[F]inancing such a project is tough. Already self-funding his PhD, Roberts applied to zoos for support but drew a blank: with a swath of endangered animals to consider, civets simply weren’t a priority. Yet he believes the research is urgent.”
Roberts and one of his supervisors, Professor Anna Nekaris, have also seen the civets being bought and sold on the market as exotic pets. Like other exotic animals their owners are often unaware of and neglect their needs. World Animal Protection has started a campaign to have all Kopi Luwak coffee sourced from wild, cage-free civets, stating “Civets are frequently injured during capture and experience extreme stress when handled by humans,” showing that other organizations are also worried about the wellbeing of the palm civets.
This crowdfunding project is looking to take a more incremental step, but one that could provide some important information to help keep these animals in as little pain as possible. It isn’t uncommon to hear about endangered animals, and those being mistreated to serve our consumption needs. Finding grant funds for these projects can be hard but crowdfunding gives the public a chance to take a stand and try to make a positive change faster in cases like this.
