Senator International Air Freight: flights from the USA full of dogs for laboratories in France

We did research after an alert from a whistleblower. The beagles spent 14 hours on the road in trucks, crossing the east of the United States before arriving in the burning heat of South Carolina. They were all caged in shipping crates and loaded on a palette into the trailer, like a consignment of goods. They were unloaded at the airport, where the whistleblower was able to take some photos. Staff then loaded them onto a flight for Germany, from where they were transferred to France where they will suffer test after test in laboratories. Senator International, the air freight company, regularly carries such cargo. It also works for other companies, such as Bosch and even BMW.

Transport of dogs from the United States to France: a lucrative trade

The main American breeder sending dogs from the US to France is Marshall Farms, the ‘bioresource’ company, which bought the Gannat site in Allier from Harlan, against which we have taken legal proceedings, and which is seeking to extend its commercial influence in France. It would not be surprising if the dogs came from Marshall Farms’ North Rose site in New York State, as that is where the trucks that transported the dogs to the Greenville-Spartanburg international airport are registered. Nor would it be surprising if they were destined for the company’s site in Lyon, as Lyon is the only city in France where Senator International has a branch at the airport

These beagles are in living hell, from birth to death

The unfortunate beagles are reared in animal facilities which provide guarantees to the laboratories as to the type of dogs to be sent. They are separated from their mothers soon after birth. The same operations are carried out in Mézilles in France, where we have obtained images of the bitches used for breeding and the comfortless cells in the maternity building, where they have no respite from the constant cycle of pregnancy, giving birth and feeding puppies. As soon as the breeder decides that the puppies should be weaned and that they are ready, they are put into crates.

That is when the journey through the United States begins. It lasts around fifteen hours. At the end of such a long journey, the dogs are exhausted, stressed, thirsty and hungry. They have had to perform their bodily functions in the crates in which they are imprisoned. But the journey is not over: they still have a flight of around eight hours, not counting any stopovers, in a freight aircraft. The same applies when they arrive in Germany: a stopover, then the next journey, from Germany to France.

And that is when the real torture begins: continual experiments, more or less invasive and painful, until they die. And often, post-mortem, their organs are used for analysis.

Translated from the French by Jo Durning