Thai authorities have denied allegations by an animal rights group that monkeys were being abused during coconut picking. Thai Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said “using monkeys for the coconut industry is almost non-existent”. He admitted that farmers did use monkeys to harvest coconuts but only on a small scale as a tourist attraction. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said an undercover investigation of eight Thai farms found that monkeys were forced to gather as…