'Don't Fly Monkeys to Their Deaths in Labs,' Says PETA
For
Immediate Release:
May
1, 2012
Contact:
Kristin
Richards 202-483-7382
Chicago — Wearing monkey masks, dressed in all black, and holding signs that read, "Deplane Monkeys," PETA members will gather outside United Airlines' headquarters on Wednesday to call on the airline to maintain its longstanding policy against transporting monkeys and other primates to laboratories. United's cargo policies are being revised in light of its recent merger with Continental Airlines, which was the last major U.S. airline to ship primates to laboratories to be caged, experimented on, and killed. United has refused to confirm that it has maintained its ban:
Date: Wednesday, May 2
Time: 12 noon
Place: United Airlines Headquarters, 77 W. Wacker Dr. (near the intersection with N. Clark), Chicago
"Every domestic airline refuses to transport primates to their deaths in laboratories," says PETA Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. "PETA is calling on United to announce publicly that it will maintain its policy and stay out of this bloody trade."
The PETA "monkeys" will also protest outside the U.S. headquarters of Air France in New York on Thursday. Like Continental was, Air France is part of a shrinking list of airlines—including Air China and Vietnam Airlines—that still ship nearly 20,000 primates each year from Asia, Africa, and Latin America to U.S. and Canadian laboratories. These primates, many of whom were torn from their families in the wild, are crammed into small wooden crates and transported in dark cargo holds for nearly 30 hours, often on passenger flights just below unsuspecting customers. When the monkeys reach their final destination, they are confined to small cages and tormented in cruel—and often deadly—experiments.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
