Air Canada Flies Excuses as Other Airlines Adopt "No Cruel Cargo" Policy

The Cargo Cruelty campaign, led by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, is making headway in the fight to stop airlines from transporting primates for research experimentation.

Sarah Kite, Director of Communications at BUAV, sent me the latest updates, stating: “The BUAV's Cargo Cruelty campaign has been successful in persuading an increasing number of airlines to stop their involvement in this cruel trade.”

The newest airlines to adopt a transport ban on research-bound primates are Caribbean Airlines and Lufthansa. Previously, Lufthansa adopted the policy not to transport primates internationally, but was required by the German government to continue shipping primates within the country for the German research industry.

This is no longer the case. Lufthansa announced to BUAV yesterday that the airline has enacted a full and “self-imposed embargo” on transporting research primates.

Unfortunately, some airlines are holding steadfast in their refusal to fly sans cruel cargo. Air Canada is one such airline. Claiming to be bound by law to carry research primates as cargo, Air Canada responded to the BUAV petition on Change.org by stating that their hands are tied.

How exactly are they tied? Not by the government, as was the case with Lufthansa, but due to Air Canada’s own policy.

The policy states that they can refuse cargo only if it causes an annoyance to passengers. Peter Fitzpatrick, spokesman for Air Canada, said the airline once tried to refuse primate cargo from Barbados. Since they could not reasonably argue that transporting primates for research caused an annoyance, the Canadian Transportation Authority required the primates to be shipped.

But the Canadian Transportation Authority points out that it's not their decision whether or not Air Canada ships primates. A spokesperson told the Montreal Gazette, "it is and has been within Air Canada's prerogative to amend its tariffs to reflect its preferred practice on carriage of primates."

Instead of changing their policy to prevent more cruel cargo shipments, Air Canada opted to continue business as usual. Organizations like BUAV find this unacceptable: “Air Canada is under no legal obligation to transport animals bound for experimentation,” said Ms. Kite. “We have subsequently renewed our call to Air Canada to stop transporting primates destined for research."

The BUAV's position is supported by a recent legal opinion from the Canadian organization, Lawyers for Animal Welfare, which says "Air Canada is legally entitled to refuse to ship animals bound for experimentation."

Close to 20,000 Change.org members have joined BUAV in calling for a halt in transporting cruel cargo. The BUAV says they're "delighted to receive the support from Change.org for this important campaign." Sign and share the petition urging Air Canada and other airline companies to stop their policy of shipping research primates.

Photo Credit: BUAV