Asian Palm Civet

Habitat:

Seen at night along the road from Sungaipenuh to Tapan, which cuts deep into the Kerinci Seblat National Park, Sumatra, Indonesia.

Notes:

From Wikipedia: Kopi Luwak is coffee prepared using coffee cherries that have been eaten by the animal, partially digested, and harvested from its feces. Kopi Luwak is currently the most expensive coffee in the world. Due to the demand growing numbers of intensive civet "farms" are emerging across south-east Asia, confining tens of thousands of animals to live in tiny cages and be force-fed. '"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."'