Lab Monkeys on a Plane: Air Canada Supports Primate Cruelty

Last weekend, 48 monkeys were flown from China to Toronto via the cargo hold of an Air Canada jetliner. At Pearson Airport, they waited for more than 15 hours in their cramped wooden crates until a truck finally arrived to transport them to a research lab in Quebec.

According to the Toronto Sun, the incident was made public by Sarah Kite of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), who was alarmed not just by the fact that Air Canada agreed to transport the monkeys, but also by the way they were shipped and forced to languish at the airport. (A spokesman for LAB Research Canada has denied this claim.)

Many other airlines, including British Airways, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, Qantas Airways, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic, have already taken a humane step by refusing to ship lab animals internationally. But Air Canada President and CEO Calin Rovinescu claims it’s beyond his control that his company continues to do so.

Why are Rovinescu’s hands tied? According to the Toronto Star, in 1994, Air Canada conscientiously refused to transport monkeys from Barbados because their ultimate destination was a research lab. But the Canada Transportation Agency (CTA) ruled that Air Canada must transport the monkeys, since the animals were not a nuisance to passengers. The CTA said at the time that the argument that the transportation of lab monkeys was offensive on "humane or moral grounds" wasn't really a valid reason.

Yet, four years ago, Air Canada ignored the CTA's ruling and stopped transporting beagles used for medical research. Was it because the CEO’s heart grew three sizes that day? Nah, it was because passengers complained about all the loud yelping coming from the cargo area when the plane took off and landed.

At least other airlines seem to care as much about the fate of the animals as they do about their paying customers. British Airways Media Liaison Manager Sophie Greenyer told the Toronto Star the airline has a firm policy of "not carrying live animals that are for use in any laboratory, or for experimentation or exploitation."

But not Air Canada. "We cannot by law refuse the carriage of animals for the sole reason that they could ultimately be destined to a laboratory or for research," spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick wrote in an email to the Toronto Star.

In a statement on the BUAV web site, Kite said, "Shipping these highly sensitive and intelligent animals as cargo in small wooden crates is in itself appalling. For them to have to suffer these cramped conditions for a further 15 hours or more is shocking. This is an issue of strong public concern."

It’s time for Air Canada to join the other airlines that refuse to transport animals destined for research laboratories. Sign the petition urging Rovinescu to end the transport of these animals.

Photo credit: SlimVirgin