Gateway To Hell
March 2014
Whilst most of the lab animals are transported by a few major players, the following airlines are all currently known to either be transporting animals for laboratory purposes or to have transported animals in the past and not yet made a statement.
The transportation of animals is a complicated business, which involves a
lot of logistics and a number of factors to move the animals from one side
of the world to the other and get them to the laboratory alive. The most
obvious of these links in the transportation chain is the airlines, but
airlines are also reliant on services, such as ground handlers and airport
services, all of whom can refuse to handle animals destined for
laboratories.
Across Europe and the US, animals are generally moved by road rather than by air, with hundreds of thousands of animals known to be being shipped across the US in trucks each year. Currently very little is known about these over-ground networks, but many breeders take responsibility for moving their own animals in their own vehicles. However, even when the breeder is providing their own transportation they are still reliant on services, and these services can also be denied to them on moral grounds. Airlines still provide vital transport links for many species however – from wild-caught primates that cannot be moved any other way to delicate amphibians who would not survive a lengthy truck ride.
Cutting off the supply
British activists have had a lot of success with slowing the trade of
laboratory animals in the UK. At present, the ferry services from the UK to
Europe are now refusing to let lab animal transports pass, and laboratories
are already facing an increase in the cost of lab animals due to other
difficulties in shipping them to their final destinations. Airports and
ground-handling companies are another important factor that can impact the
transportation of animals, with the ground-handlers at Los Angeles airport
reportedly refusing to handle animals for China Southern, (which has
effectively stopped their monkey transports), and with numerous regional
airports also refusing to handle animals these can also be effective
regional solutions.
Airlines dealing in animal cruelty
Whilst most of the lab animals are transported by a few major players, the following airlines are all currently known to either be transporting animals for laboratory purposes or to have transported animals in the past and not yet made a statement.
If you are an employee or representative of a company involved in the
transportation of animals and you wish to relieve your conscience by
providing information about animal transports then click here.
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