World Civet Day 2025 - Working for the civets

Protecting animals is the dream of any zoologist and conservationist, but getting experience in the industry isn’t always easy. For World Civet Day 2025, Cerys is here to explore her time working with The Civet Project Foundation, and how it has shaped her into the zoologist she is today.

World Civet Day 2024 poster on the Viverrid Enclosure at Dudley Zoo & Castle

My Experience:

Going into my third year of university I knew that vocational experience would be essential for the future, and I was keen to find something where I could use and develop my skills and knowledge. However, finding work and experience in the conservation sector is a challenge, and often requires volunteer fees and travel. LinkedIn is a key tool in this sector with many organisations posting opportunities for students and graduates to apply for. It was here that I found an internship opportunity with The Civet Project Foundation, the world’s leading voice for Viverrid species- small carnivores endemic to Africa and Asia.

 Cerys Deakin and Keyana Jeffrey presenting the Industry Leaders Report 2024 at the Viverrid Conference January 2025, co-organised between The Civet Project Foundation, BIAZA Small Mammal Working Group, and Dudley Zoo

In my role at The Civet Project Foundation (Research and Communications), I have had the opportunity to get involved with a range of projects. Firstly I got to take charge of the social media pages for the charity, which involves creating and publishing content on all our platforms (you can find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn). This opportunity gave me the chance to learn how audiences understand and engage with science communications, to better develop our social media strategy to ensure that we could share our pro-conservation and pro-animal welfare messages effectively.

I also had the opportunity to be involved in the Industry Leaders Report, where a small team of us investigated civet coffee attractions online on the leading tourism sites. This report led to major tourism operators including Tripadvisor, Booking.com and AirBnB promising to stop selling civet coffee attractions from their websites- something we are still holding them accountable to.

Working on the Industry Leaders Report 2024 was a key moment for me working with the charity. Myself and others worked tirelessly for 3 months to screen Tripadvisor’s website to create a database of all the civet coffee listings and whether they featured the animal welfare pawprint (signifying whether attractions are welfare compliant or not). Following this, we worked together to write the report. We found that, despite Tripadvisors welfare policy, 91.9% of listings that featured live animals did not show a welfare warning and only 6.8% were appropriately labelled. Upon finding these results we reached out to leading tourism operators such as Tripadvisor, Booking.com and AirBnB asking them to pledge to remove these listings. Tripadvisor agreed to remove listings and appropriately label them with welfare warnings where animals were involved.

Despite agreeing to this, our recent investigations have shown that less than 10% of listings were acknowledged and either removed or correctly labelled. When we contacted Tripadvisor again we were told that they would no longer be following their previous pledge and instead were reviewing their animal welfare policy. Disappointingly due to the timing chosen by Tripadvisor, our efforts were largely unacknowledged. For students like myself, Keyana and Sophie (a student fulfilling placement hours with us), this is a heartbreaking update, as we devoted hundreds upon hundreds of hours of our time to this research, alongside our university and college assignments.

‘Working on the Industry Leaders Report was an amazing opportunity to be able to contribute to something which has real world impact. I was shocked to have found that results that we did, but I am hoping that this will highlight the need for action to stop the civet coffee trade’ - Sophie Barnard, Student Placement with The Civet Project Foundation

Whilst we are disappointed by this outcome, we are proud that our investigation resulted in a response from TripAdvisor acknowledging the role they play in civet safeguarding. We will continue to hold them accountable. and have them acknowledge our efforts and pleas. It is uncommon for large organisations and conglomerates like this to respond to these efforts, so we have made a huge step in the right direction. Some change was a small reward for our hard work. We are hopeful that we can continue to work with companies to progress this further, and we will keep holding Tripadvisor accountable until they remove all the listings we flagged as in breach of their own animal welfare policy.

‘This research was eye-opening, we exposed the dark reality of civet coffee tourism and the corporations enabling it. TripAdvisor’s failure to act on their promises while profiting from cruelty was deeply disheartening. But this only fuels our fight. Change isn’t easy, but we will never stop pushing for it, especially when human health, civet welfare and conservation are all in jeopardy.’ - Keyana Jeffery, Project Coordination, The Civet Project Foundation

In January 2025 I attended the first Viverrid Conference, where I had the chance to hear from experts around the world, and alongside fellow intern Keyana, we were able to present our Industry Leaders research. Most recently, I have been leading the preparations for World Civet Day 2025 through refining resources, contacting participants and assisting with planning and preparations for partners.

This position has been extremely rewarding and was ideal for my life circumstances. The role is remote which gives me flexibility with my university schedule, and also meant that I didn’t have to find money to fund my travel or a volunteering fee. This was preferable for me as I do not have the finances to travel abroad for month-long volunteering opportunities, and I still gain valuable experience through my work. Furthemore, I have found it difficult to gain experience with mammals and terrestrial ecosystems throughout my time at university, so to have a remote opportunity to make changes for terrestrial and arboreal mammals was perfect.

Prior to November 2023, I had no idea what a civet was or the threats facing them. With a little solo research and an introductory call with the founder (Dr Jes Hooper) and Dr Carol Kline, I quickly developed a drive for getting involved and making change.

Binturong (Arctictis binturong) at Dudley Zoo & Castle. Pic Credit: Cerys Deakin

What are civets?

Civets are among the most ancient Feliformia and, whilst they are described as ‘cat-like’, they are not cats. Civets are part of the family Viverridae which have various anatomical features that make them distinctive - long muzzels, short legs and five toes on all of their feet. These animals are described as ‘lesser-known’ species and due to this they receive very little publicity, thus very little research is being done on them. From my first 18 months working with The Civet Project Foundation, I have seen the real urgency for research and outreach for Viverrids in order to better protect them in the future.

Viverrids across the globe are threatened by exploitation and trade. The theme for World Civet Day 2025 is coffee, with the hope that we can bring attention to the cruel civet coffee (kopi luwak) industry that is growing globally, especially throughout Southeast Asia. Civet Coffee is produced when coffee beans pass through the digestive system of a civet, after which the beans are picked out of their faeces, cleaned and processed like any other coffee bean. The digestive enzymes of civets are said to make civet coffee unique from other coffee, but research has shown this not to be true. This industry is built upon a cruel reality that compromises animal welfare for the production of something that is hugely misadvertised.

Cerys celebrating World Civet Day at Dudley Zoo & Castle

My takeaways since World Civet Day 2024

World Civet Day 2024 was the first official day of celebration for civet species, and we reached over 100,000 people across the globe! I attended Dudley Zoo & Castle to see our resources being used in person and it was fantastic to see people of all ages getting involved and expressing interest in civet conservation and welfare. Our resources were a big hit and we have since been able to design even more activities to maximise interest and engagement. Thanks to the first official World Civet Day we were also able to develop our relationships with zoos across the UK, which was evident at the Viverrid Conference in January 2025 which was attended by 25 zoos.

All delegates and speakers at the Viverrid Conference in January 2025

The Viverrid Workshop was the first of its kind, bringing together experts from across the globe to share their knowledge and experiences to develop best care practices and discuss research. During the conference there was a day packed full of talks from Viverrid keepers, researchers and experts from across the globe with speakers from Hamerton Zoo, Laos Conservation Trust for Wildlife and Borneo Nature Foundation. By bringing together professionals who are passionate about civet species, the workshop ignited collaborative opportunities for Viverrids within in-situ and ex-situ settings. On a personal level, it inspired even greater desire for me to continue my work to make change.

What next?

We are working hard to make progress in the future for civets and their welfare, and World Civet Day is a celebration of the species and all of the steps being made to improve their protection. So, what can you do to help?

●      Share our message!

●   Fundraise or Donate - there are FREE resources available for request on the website that will help you set-up your own fundraiser! https://www.thecivetproject.com/worldcivetday

About the Author:

Cerys is a final year MSci Zoology student at the University of Exeter, with a keen interest in conservation and animal welfare. Cerys has been an intern with The Civet Project Foundation since November 2023 and has developed valuable skills and been involved in key progressions for civets. Cerys demonstrates her skills on her LinkedIn and over on her instagram @cerys.hermione.photography