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SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS SAYS IT DOES NOT CARRY PRIMATES FOR THE RESEARCH INDUSTRY
The BUAV have announced that several airlines had stopped transporting primates for the research industry. They recently revealed that major airlines including US Airways and Eva Air have pulled out of the business while some of the world’s largest airlines, including United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Northwest Airlines, Qantas Airways,
South African Airways, Delta Airlines and China Airlines have re-confirmed their commitment to eliminating ‘cargo cruelty’ by opting out of carrying non-human primates as freight for the research industry.
The international trade in primates for research is a global industry that involves misery, suffering and sometimes death for the animals involved. Many monkeys are trapped in the wild and then isolated from their family groups and native habitats in countries, while others are bred in captivity, usually under factory farmed conditions. They originate from countries such as Mauritius, Tanzania, Barbados Guyana, the Philippines, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, the USA and Israel. The capture and confinement of such primates causes anxiety and stress which not only results in suffering, but can also lead to infection and the onset of disease. Further, a recent conservation report* highlighted that many primate groups in Asia and South-East Asia are at a growing risk of extinction. Air transportation contributes to further suffering, even death.
Primates destined for the research industry are packed into small wooden crates (usually too small to allow them to stand up) and travel as cargo, predominantly on passenger air flights, to destinations around the world. In addition to the cramped conditions, the monkeys may have to endure inadequate ventilation, noise and extreme temperature fluctuations as they are shipped on extremely long journeys to research laboratories globally. The primate research industry is now dependent on a dwindling number of airlines. Air France, Philippine Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Carribean Airlines, China Eastern and China Southern Airlines and Korean Air are some of the airlines that have shipped thousands of primates, some trapped in the wild, to destinations around the world, during 2007-2008.
Information courtesy of ETHICAL CONSUMER (www.ethicalconsumer.org)(March/April 2009) and the BUAV (www.buav.org).
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