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Which airlines still transport primates for research?
In August 2011, Caribbean Airlines and Surinam Airways made commitments to no longer transport non-human primates destined for laboratory experimentation. Both airlines had transported primates into Miami for the research industry in recent years (Miami is a major port of entry for primate imports into the U.S.).

The two airlines join a growing list of airlines that were once carriers of primates, but which now refuse to transport primates for the research industry. Since the beginning of the year, three Florida-based airlines— Monarch Air Group, IBC Airways and Amerijet International— have made similar commitments. Other airlines that have made this compassionate decision include leading cargo airlines such as Lufthansa Cargo and DHL Aviation, as well as the major airlines Delta Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines, US Airways, British Airways, El Al and Korean Air.

The international trade in primates causes intolerable cruelty. Airlines play an important role in this cruel trade.

You Can Help
Air France is one of a small number of passenger airlines that continue to be involved in the cruel primate trade. The airline has transported monkeys on treacherous, long-distance trips from the African island of Mauritius to Florida. For these highly intelligent and sensitive animals, the journey to a U.S. laboratory can be an extremely stressful experience. Please contact the airline and politely urge them to end their involvement in the transport of primates to laboratories. You may want to mention that you will not fly with the airline until they enact a policy against transporting primates.

• Air France-KLM Cargo
Phone: (800) 556-9000
Online comment form

Jan Krems, Vice President, The Americas
Air France-KLM Cargo
E-mail: jan.krems@klmcargo.com

Alain Pagès, Vice President, USA
Air France-KLM Cargo
E-mail: alpages@airfrance.fr

Primates are NOT Products!
Primate Products, Inc. is a Miami-based corporation that imports* and sells monkeys for use in research and testing to universities, the U.S. military and to pharmaceutical companies. Primate Products also manufactures steel cages and devices used for restraining monkeys in laboratories.

Updates:
• July 2012: Primate Products customer update (here).

• November 2011: Primate Products customers revealed. (see: "12 months of Primate Products customers")

• July 2011: Florida congressmen concerned about wasteful, cruel government contracts Primate Products. (see: "Federal stimulus program: a disaster for monkeys")

• June 2011: An airline with no experience in transporting primates was hired to fly 64 wild-caught vervet monkeys from the Caribbean island of St. Kitts to Miami International Airport. Upon arrival, the monkeys were delivered to Primate Products. The airline was later cited for violating the Animal Welfare Act for transporting primates without a license. (see: "Florida airline cited for violating Animal Welfare Act")

• April 2011: Primate Products was cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for leaving monkeys who were still under anesthesia in an enclosure without supervision, and in the hot sun.

In August 2010, disturbing photographs surfaced that show monkeys with serious injuries and crude surgical mutilations. The photos were taken inside Primate Products.

Click here to view the photographs (warning: graphic images).

In response to the photographs, ARFF sent an urgent letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) demanding that they take immediate steps to investigate possible violations of the Animal Welfare Act at Primate Products. In early October, the USDA reported that no violations were found during inspections of Primate Products' quarantine facility in Miami and its holding/breeding facility in Immokalee. The result was not surprising, considering the minimal protections provided animals under the Animal Welfare Act.

You Can Help
Please contact the USDA and express your disappointment that, despite the shocking photographs of injured animals, Primate Products was cleared of wrongdoing. Ask the USDA to conduct repeat, unannounced inspections of Primate Products. Contact:

Dr. Elizabeth Goldentyer
Eastern Regional Director
USDA/APHIS/Animal Care
Phone: (919) 855-7100
E-mail: aceast@aphis.usda.gov

*In 2010, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service records, Primate Products imported 825 monkeys (crab-eating macaques) from China, Indonesia and the Philippines, to be bred and sold for scientific research. Primate Products also imports vervet monkeys from the islands of St. Kitts & Nevis.

Another black eye for Primate Products, Inc.
In early 2009 approximately 100 owl monkeys were donated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta to Primate Products. According to the CDC, the monkeys were to be retired, "after a lifetime of experimentation in labs."

In July 2009, for reasons that are unclear, Primate Products delivered the owl monkeys to Everglades Outpost, a wildlife sanctuary in Homestead. Tragically, within three days of arriving at Everglades Outpost, 22 of the monkeys were dead. An additional six monkeys died the following week. It is not known what happened to the remaining monkeys, but there are no longer any owl monkeys at Everglades Outpost.

According to a report issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture following the deaths, the owl monkeys who arrived at Everglades Outpost had been pair-housed for years. But upon arrival, the monkeys were placed together in a large enclosure. The USDA concluded that the deaths were likely caused by "behavioral stress and physical trauma" due to the "sudden group housing" of the monkeys.

Primate Products should have known better than to dump close to 100 animals at an organization that lacked the knowledge and facilities to properly care for them.

You Can Help
Please contact the CDC and urge them, in light of Primate Products, Inc.'s apparent negligence that contributed to the deaths of dozens of owl monkeys, to reconsider working with Primate Products in the future. Instead, ask the CDC to provide monkeys a true retirement at an established primate sanctuary where they may live their lives in peace. Contact:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Phone: (800) 232-4636
E-mail: cdcinfo@cdc.gov