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July 22, 2022
Air France to End Primate Transport
Following decades of public outrage and the suffering of hundreds of animals, Air France has announced that it will stop transporting primates for use in research and testing, making it the last major airline to do so. It has been transporting primates from Mauritius, an island off east Africa, for laboratories in the U.S. and Europe.
The many dangers associated with primate transport have been documented in AAVS’s 2011 report “Primates by the Numbers: The Use and Importation of Nonhuman Primates for Research and Testing in the U.S.” For example, we found that primates were shipped on multiple flights with total travel times lasting more than 24 hours to as long as 56 hours. AAVS also reported evidence that during transport and required quarantines, primates were at risk of suffering and dying from pneumonia, dehydration, trauma, and stress, or being euthanized due to testing positive for tuberculosis.
Earlier this year, Kenya Airways announced that it would stop transporting primates for research, following a tragic accident in Pennsylvania in January that killed several monkeys. However, smaller airlines such as Wamos Air, which is partly owned by the Royal Caribbean Group, continue to transport primates for laboratory use.
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Sanctuary Moment
Save the Chimps
We love when we hear that animals at a sanctuary AAVS supports are making new friends, especially for monkeys like Junior and Rocky, because their unlikely friendship reaches beyond their differences. Junior is a 16 year old pig-tailed/lion-tailed hybrid macaque, and was a pet who lived alone, likely never meeting another monkey until arriving at Primates Incorporated. Rocky is a rhesus macaque, who is also 16, and lived by himself at a laboratory.
Not living in social groups, Junior and Rocky didn’t get the chance to learn their species’ typical behavior and language, which can make it difficult to make friends. But the folks at Primates Incorporated made sure they could watch the other monkeys at the sanctuary, and as you can see from the image above, they have learned how wonderful it is to groom each other. Just look at Rocky’s face—he’s so content!
To read more about Junior and Rocky’s special friendship, check out Primate Incorporated’s blog post, and be sure to follow them on social media. They post often, so it’s a fun way to keep up with all the monkey action!