Cruelty Free International and One Voice reveal scandalous information about Air France transporting monkeys from Mauritius destined for experimentation
Primates,
locked in crates and shipped like cargo, subjected to more than 37
hours of suffering.
Animal
protection associations Cruelty Free International (United Kingdom)
and One Voice (France) reiterate their call to Air France to stop the
transportation of monkeys for research. This call comes after the
publication of shocking information on the secret transportation of
primates on Air France passenger flights totalling a distance of more
than 16,000 kilometres.
According
to information gathered by Cruelty Free International investigators,
120 long-tailed macaques were shipped by Air France from Mauritius to
Chicago (USA) via Paris (France) on April 26, 2017. Monkeys packed
into crates and transported from a local farm to the Sir Seewoosagur
Ramgoolam International Airport on the island, then placed on the AF
463 passenger flight bound for Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle Airport
(CDG).
The
monkeys, having completed more than 9,600 kilometres in 11 hours and
30 minutes, were held in Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle for nine hours
before setting out on a new voyage of more than 6,600 kilometres on
flight AF 6730 to Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) where
they landed on April 27th – an additional flight time of 8 hours and
50 minutes. The monkeys were intended for Charles River Laboratories,
a contract research business conducting preclinical (poisoning)
toxicology tests on animals for pharmaceutical, chemical and
agrochemical companies.
Sarah
Kite, Cruelty Free International’s Special Projects Director, says:
“Air France’s 463 tourists, who enjoyed maximum comfort and
relaxed after a vacation on the paradise island of Mauritius, could
not possibly have guessed that just below their feet were 120
non-human primates. These non-human primates who were forcibly loaded
on board as “passengers”, were torn from their families and
trapped in tiny wooden crates and suffered in the dark of this noisy
hold of the aircraft. At the end of this nightmare journey, these
intelligent and sensitive animals were destined to spend the rest of
their lives in metal cages thousands of miles from their native
jungle and to be subjected to horrific and painful experiments.”
Muriel
Arnal, President of One Voice, is indignant: “Air France is the
last passenger airline in Europe to continue this cruel
transportation of primates for research that has become obsolete
thanks to advances in science. This French company sends thousands of
monkeys every year to suffer and die in laboratories all over the
world. We call on its CEO to stop this practice today! “
The
airline is a vital link between Mauritius and laboratories in Europe
and the United States, one of the largest suppliers of monkeys in the
world. In 2016 8,425 monkeys were exported from Mauritius to Europe,
the United States and Canada. It is likely that Air France
transported the majority, if not all, of the Mauritius monkeys to
Paris where they were registered on another Air France flight to the
United States or sent by road to French, British, Spanish and German
laboratories.
Cruelty
Free International and One Voice have worked tirelessly to end the
transportation of primates. Our shock investigations revealed the
cruelty and suffering inflicted on the animals in the laboratories
and during their capture, rearing and transportation. Our campaign
has received worldwide support and we have seen many international
companies (formerly the leading carriers transporting monkeys to
laboratories), including American Airlines, British Airways, United
Airlines, Northwest Airlines, South African Airways, Delta Airlines,
Eva Air, Air Canada and China Airlines, who have given up this cruel
trade by refusing to deliver new primates to the laboratories.
Several other passenger airlines have also expressed their intention
never to get involved in this sordid business.
Notes
In
recent weeks, Cruelty Free International investigators have been
informed of at least three transportations of monkeys from Mauritian
farms via Air France flights. Cruelty Free International and One
Voice are calling on the public to send an email to Air France’s
Executive Vice President of Operations and Air France’s Frank Terner:
frterner@airfrance.fr, demanding that Air France join the growing
number of airlines that have made the decision to no longer
participate in this barbarity. Check out which airlines that are
willing to carry monkeys for research and those who choose not to:
https://www.crueltyfreeinternational.org/airlines