Kenya Airways will cease transporting monkeys to the United States from a Mauritius breeding farm.
KQ to stop shipping monkeys after accident
The decision was arrived after a crate of monkeys being flown spilled on a highway
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The national carrier announced it was going to stop the shipment of hundreds of monkeys to the US upon expiry of their contract with the breeding farm.
The decision was arrived after a crate of monkeys being flown spilled on a highway in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia following a truck crash.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) raised the matter with KQ Chief executive explaining the predicaments the animals went through.
The truck was ferrying the monkeys from John F. Kennedy International Airport a few hours after they were delivered by Kenya Airways.
Celebrating the decision, PETA Senior Vice President Jason Baker thanked Kilavuka and KQ chair Michael Joseph for their decision to do away with the business saying the monkeys belonged to the wild and not laboratories.
"PETA would like to thank Kilavuka and Chair Michael Joseph for their decision to do away with this cruel, heinous business at Kenya Airways. Monkeys belong in the wild, not in laboratories, where their most basic needs, including home, family, and community, are better met," PETA Senior Vice-President Jason Baker said.
PETA argues that the use of animals in experiments is failing to provide treatments and solutions for humans, with research showing that 95 per cent of new medications that test safe and effective on animals fail in human clinical trials.
The monkeys are used in experimental laboratories with the Covid-19 pandemic increasing the demand for monkeys in research laboratories in the United States
Mr Baker said that the decision by KQ shows the carrier's understanding of how using monkeys for research purposes poses greater risks to the possibility of emerging infectious diseases.
The US Department of Agriculture has since opened an investigation into the incident amid protests from animal rights activists.
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