EXPOSED: EGYPTAIR Quietly Reverses Ban on Monkey Shipments, Flouts Disease Fears - PETA

[Mary Wilson]

For Immediate Release:
August 11, 2023

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

New York – PETA has just learned that EGYPTAIR shipped approximately 500 endangered long-tailed macaques from Mauritius to John F. Kennedy International Airport on Saturday for use in experiments, despite recent commitments that it would no longer transport monkeys to laboratories and concerns about the spread of disease. ...

“Soon after EGYPTAIR pledged not to ship monkeys to their deaths in laboratories, the airline is back to propping up the wildlife trade in an endangered species ,” says PETA primate scientist Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel. “PETA is urging this airline to honor its commitments and permanently end its participation in the cruel monkey trade steeped in zoonotic disease risk or face public ire.”

Earlier this year, primate importers claimed that authorities had plugged the monkey-abduction pipeline following civil and criminal investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice as well as indictments of people involved in the alleged illegal smuggling of endangered long-tailed macaques from Southeast Asia. ...

https://www.peta.org/media/news-releases/exposed-egyptair-quietly-reverses-ban-on-monkey-shipments-flouts-disease-fears/

[Mary Wilson]

August 11 2023

Yehia Zakaria
Chair and CEO
EGYPTAIR Holding Company

Via e-mail: chairman_me@egyptair.comDear Mr. Zakaria:

We’re writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Action for Primates, One Voice, and Abolición Vivisección to follow up on our earlier correspondence with EGYPTAIR regarding your practice of shipping monkeys on cargo flights to be used in experiments in the U.S. and elsewhere.One year ago, you told us “our contract for the shipment of Primates has expired by June 2022 and we did not renew it.” However, it has come to our attention that you backpedaled on this commitment and shipped approximately 500 monkeys on flight MS5091 from Mauritius to the U.S. on August 5. We urge you to align your policies with those of every other major airline company by immediately and permanently ending all transport of monkeys to laboratories.

As we alerted EGYPTAIR before, the species you are transporting, long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), was assessed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. These animals have been driven to the brink of extinction, in large part due to their capture and exploitation as part of the international wildlife trade to laboratories via airlines. During shipment, these monkeys are crammed into small wooden crates and transported in the dark, terrifying cargo holds of planes. On this particular flight, the monkeys were kept that way for more than 24 hours.

The situation is all the more urgent because in May, Bioculture, the reported company that bred the monkeys in the shipment you transported last week, has been in the midst of an outbreak of tuberculosis—a highly infectious mycobacterial disease that can be transmitted between monkeys and human—at its export facility. This pathogen can persist on surfaces and requires specialized treatment and sanitation. Given the many pathogens carried by monkeys that can be transmitted to humans, it’s clear that the international transport of monkeys not only is a serious ethical issue but also represents a grave threat to public health and safety—including for crew on your flights as well as ground crews. ...

https://www.peta.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/2023-08-11-egyptair-letter.pdf