"We applaud Air Canada for wanting
to get out of the monkey business," said Brian Vincent, Coordinator of the
CCAARE and Director of Stop UBC Animal Research. "We urge the Canadian
Transportation Agency to immediately approve Air Canada's new, compassionate
policy."
Coalition urges Canadian Transportation
Agency to revise shipping guidelines to approve Air Canada's new, compassionate
policy
Last
year, Air Canada came under
international criticism after news that four dozen monkeys from breeding
farms
in China had been shipped to Quebec in cramped wooden crates. Now the
airlines,
one of only two major North American carriers that still flies primates
to
laboratories, wants out of the gruesome primate trade. Air Canada
recently stated: "[i]t was a decision taken both to align our policies
with those of
many other major international carriers and in response to widespread
public
concern."
Other
groups from across the globe are also calling on the CTA to approve Air
Canada's "no primate" policy. The British Union for
the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), which has led the campaign to end the
international transportation by airlines of primates destined for research and
which broke the story about Air Canada last year, and Change.org
have launched an online
petition. And the world's largest animal rights group, People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals has mobilized
its members to contact the Canadian agency.
