Sheng Lau’s family had lost pineapples on two previous occasions. The first pineapple was growing well and the family looked forward to harvesting a sweet and ripe pineapple soon. However, the family woke up one morning to this sight:
Sheng Lau then protected his next ripening pineapple and left a narrow opening at the top of the cage. For the second time, he discovered that the night thief had been able to get his prize.
The family then erected a stainless steel mesh around the third fruiting pineapple plant. Loidea, the family helper, heard some sounds in the night and came out to investigate. She captured the masked thief on video and discovered that it had tampered with the steel mesh but the pineapple fruit was intact.
Video by Loidea shows the masked thief. 15 June 2023.
This thief is also known as Common Civet Cat, Asian Palm Civet Cat, toddy cat and musang. It is related to the weasels and is not a feline. They are tropical creatures, nocturnal and secretive. These animals are omnivorous and feed on rodents, snakes, frogs, mangoes LINK , bananas LINK and their favourite berries are coffee berries LINK. The coffee seeds, known as coffee beans, are not digested but fermented and are passed whole. These coffee beans, kopi luwak, are collected from the wild and marketed as gourmet coffee.
In coffee growing areas, the animals are often captured from the wild, caged and put to work economically. Together with deforestation which destroys their habitats, there is immense downward pressure on their population growth.
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