Much to the delight of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), EgyptAir has announced that it will no longer transport primates from Africa or Asia to medical laboratories in the United States and elsewhere, a victory for PETA which had campaigned for three months.
The association which had campaigned at Paris-CDG airport last month, among other things, declared victory on August 8, 2022: the Egyptian national company confirmed to the USA that it will no longer transport primates intended for animal experimentation.
A result that follows according to a statement “an intense three-month campaign by PETA entities around the world, which included protests at airports in London, New York, Washington, Frankfurt and Manila; emails from over 100,000 supporters of PETA entities; hundreds of phone calls; and online advertisements.
WE DID IT 🙌 @EGYPTAIR has stopped transporting monkeys from Africa and Asia to experimenters after pressure from PETA entities and 100,000 of our activists! 👏 🐒
— PETA (@peta) August 8, 2022
Airline industry workers alerted PETA US to a Star Alliance shipment of 720 macaques from Cambodia to New York-JFK on April 30; “Records reveal that the airline has transported 5,000 monkeys to the United States since March,” the association said.
” EgyptAir’s decision will save thousands of monkeys from being torn from their families, herded into tiny crates and shipped around the world to endure misery and death in laboratories,” says Mimi Bekhechi, Vice President of PETA.
“ Any other airline contemplating getting into this cruel business should think twice – PETA Entities stand ready to campaign against any other airline that intends to profit off monkeys flown for undergoing cruel experiences ”.
PETA had called on the Egyptian company to “follow the example of other airlines, including Air France most recently, by ceasing to ship monkeys to laboratories” for animal testing. Kenya Airways made the same announcement last January.
Other organisations, including One Voice in France, Action for Primates in the UK and Stop Camarles in Spain “have also campaigned to end this sordid transport”. This victory “will make it more difficult for experimenters to exploit primates, but right now the animals that are suffering in the laboratories need everyone to act for the end of animal experimentation in the EU “, concludes PETA.
