可怜的麝香貓 Poor Civets

喝麝香貓屎咖啡的人在購買前，先想想這杯恐懼屎味咖啡是如何生產的~

印尼蘇門答臘省棉蘭市一間咖啡廳的一處角落，麝香貓媽媽恐懼的縮在狹小的籠子裡，牠的兩個小孩則被囚禁在其他籠牢。每天都被強逼餵食大量咖啡豆。目地就是麝香貓排出的糞便可提煉每杯索價幾百元的貓屎咖啡。

源自印尼的貓屎咖啡（Kopi Luwak），是從麝香貓排泄物中提煉出來的極品，由於數量稀少且被美食界胡亂炒作追捧，半磅賣到幾千千港元，有些高檔咖啡店賣數百或上千元一杯，英國甚至有索價8、9百元。

英國衛報記者走入棉蘭市一間咖啡廳採訪，目睹人類奢華背後的代價。超過20個囚禁著麝香貓的鐵籠，分散在咖啡廳的角落及天台。當地動物保護組織指出，由於貓屎咖啡近年因為炒作和吹噓而越來越流行，導至數萬計野生麝香貓被捕捉，驚惶的麝香貓爭扎想靠緊同伴，卻被逼分別關在環境惡劣的牢籠中，每日強迫餵食大量咖啡豆，導致牠們極容易死亡，而且類似情況在東南亞逐年攀升。
動物保護組織呼籲，喝貓屎咖啡的人在購買前，請先想想這杯恐懼屎味咖啡是如何生產的。



It's the world's most expensive coffee and is made from faeces, but connoisseur drinkers should feel most squeamish about the "horrific" abuse that mars its production process, animal welfare groups have claimed.

Kopi Luwak, or civet coffee, is created mainly in Indonesia from beans of coffee berries that are fed to Asian palm civets – small, cat-like creatures found in south-east Asia.

The brand has experienced a recent surge in popularity, fuelled in part by a memorable appearance in the 2007 film The Bucket List, pushing its export price up to $230 (£145) a pound.

Kopi Luwak has spread from Indonesia to the US and Europe, with a London outlet last year announcing that it will charge patrons £70 for a cup.

But its high-end pricing and idiosyncratic origin mask the grim reality of the coffee's production, which has morphed from a casual cottage industry for rural Indonesians to intensive farming.

The Guardian visited a coffee shop in Medan, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where a female civet was kept in a cramped cage at the back of the premises. Her two young offspring were separated from her in a similarly small cage, with a further 20 cages hidden away from view on the shop's roof.

Animal welfare groups contend that growing numbers of such civet "farms" are emerging across south-east Asia, confining tens of thousands of animals to live in tiny cages and force-fed a debilitating diet. The Asian palm civet is common, but conservationists claim that related species are sometimes used which are under threat of extinction. The binturong, another cat-like species that is sometimes used to produce Kopi Luwak, is classed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's red list as "vulnerable".

The animals are almost exclusively fed coffee berries, which they then excrete. The enzymes in their stomach acid help produce a bean that is washed and roasted to create a coffee that has been lauded for its smooth, caramel-like taste.

"The conditions are awful, much like battery chickens," said Chris Shepherd, deputy regional director of the conservation NGO Traffic south-east Asia. "The civets are taken from the wild and have to endure horrific conditions. They fight to stay together but they are separated and have to bear a very poor diet in very small cages."

"There is a high mortality rate and for some species of civet, there's a real conservation risk. It's spiraling out of control. But there's not much public awareness of how it's actually made. People need to be aware that tens of thousands of civets are being kept in these conditions. It would put people off their coffee if they knew."