Kopi Luwak unusual process contributed to its rarity and subsequently, its high price. More recently, growing numbers of intensive civet "farms" have been established and operated across Southeast Asia, confining tens of thousands of animals to live in battery cages and be force-fed. Concerns were raised over the safety of civet coffee after evidence suggested that the SARS virus originated from palm civets. '"The conditions are awful, much like battery chickens", said Chris Shepherd, deputy regional director of the conservation NGO, TRAFFIC south-east Asia. "The civets are taken from the wild and have to endure horrific conditions. They fight to stay together
Civet (perfumery) noninfectious. The name derives from the Arabic "zabād" or "sinnawr al-zabād", civet cat ("Viverra civetta"), by way of Old Italian "zibetto" and Middle French "civette". The 10th century Arab historian al-Masudi mentioned civet ("zabāda") as a spice in his book "Murūdj al-dhahab" (Meadows of Gold). Civet was among the many trade items that caravans, controlled by the Ghana empires, carried from the Niger valley to North Africa. Civet (perfumery) Civet ("Zibeth"; "Zibet"; "Zibetum"), also known as civet musk, is the glandular secretion produced by both sexes of Viverridae species. A number of viverrid species secrete civet oil in their perineal