By A PET monkey trained to harvest coconuts turned against its master recently, killing him after the latter forced the animal to pick coconuts against its will.

The tragic incident took place in Nakhon Si Thammarat province when Luelit Janchoom, 48, forced and reportedly even hit his monkey, named Brother Kwan, to harvest coconuts even if he showed hesitance to climb a  tree about 50 meters tall.

A coconut-farm owner had hired the services of Brother Kwan, whose owner got paid for Bt2 for every fruit the monkey picked.

The monkey refused to climb the 50-meter-tall coconut tree, after he had just climbed the first tree.
The victim managed to force his pet monkey to make the climb, but the monkey, showing his ire, used a different manner of harvesting the coconuts.

Instead of using his palm to turn around the coconut fruit or biting the twig until the coconut falls, he furiously kicked the heavy fruits down to his master. One of them landed on Luelit’s head, rendering him unconscious.

Luelit was rushed to the hospital but was declared dead on arrival.

This news about the incident has shocked many people, especially monkey owners, on Koh Samui as even the victim’s wife Uthai Janchoom, 45, said the monkey, which they had bought for Bt6,500, was lovable.
They had tamed the monkey and taught him to harvest other kinds of fruits on high trees as well. 

On average, Brother Kwan could harvest 300 coconut fruits a day. Coconut-farm owners would hire him and pay Bt2 per fruit harvested.

After the incident, everyone was reportedly afraid to get close to the monkey except the victim’s brother-in-law as he and Luelit were together when they bought Brother Kwan from his former owner on Koh Samui.

A monkey expert told Samui Express that a monkey is a special animal as it can understand how human beings treat them.

The owner is supposed to show tenderness and kindness if he wants the monkey to work for him, the expert said, adding that if harsh language is used, the monkey could become furious.

The expert said that sometimes the owner should call his monkey son or daughter and establish himself as a father to establish bonding between them.