KQ Says No to Transporting Monkeys To US Labs for Experimentation

 Kenya Airways will no longer be transporting monkeys from the Indian Ocean Island of Mauritius to the United States for laboratory experiments when the existing contract runs out.

Speaking to a local publication, Michael Joseph, the Kenya Airways Chairman, confirmed that the airline will stop transporting the monkeys and other animals used in scientific research once the contract expires end of February 2022.

Last week there was a truck that crashed in Danville and it was transporting the long-tailed monkeys, which were bred on a farm in Mauritius.

Four monkeys escaped following the accident between the truck and a pick-up prompting residents to join the local police in their search in nearby forests.

This attracted critics from Animal Rights activists in the US and it was this incident that led KQ to announce that they are no longer going to renew their contract.

“We will not renew the contract that expires at the end of February,” said Joseph.

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According to the US Police, the shipment was heading to a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-approved quarantine facility and laboratory in Florida after arriving at New York’s Kennedy Airport from Mauritius aboard a KQ plane.

The cynomolgus monkeys also known as the long-tailed or crab-eating macaque, are often used in medical studies and it is not clear which type of research or facility the monkeys were being taken to.

An investigation to look into the incident amid protests from animal rights activists has been opened by the US Department of Agriculture

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the monkeys have been in high demand prompting larger investments in breeding the animals at American primate research facilities.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA ) US animal rights lobby, have embraced the KQ decision to stop the transportation of the animals to the cruel acts in the laboratory.

“Monkeys belong in the wild, not in laboratories, where their most basic needs, including home, family, and community, are better met,” said PETA senior Vice-President Jason Baker.

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Article by Doreen