PETA protesters smash coconuts outside E. Liberty Whole Foods

PETA activists protested coconut milk at Whole Foods Market Thursday.

Demonstrators wearing monkey masks and black-and-white prison outfits dumped wheelbarrows full of coconuts outside of Whole Foods in East Liberty, protesting the grocery chain allegedly selling Thai coconut milk sourced from monkey labor.

Racheli Holstein, Peta Campaigner tells KDKA Radio.

“Monkeys are often illegally snatched from their natural habitat and are subjected to a lifetime of captivity and suffering,” said Holstein. “They’re whipped, chained and forced to spend long hours climbing tall trees, picking heavy coconuts.”

A statement received from Whole Foods Market says "we take this issue seriously and have previously confirmed our private label suppliers do not use animal labor in producing these products.”