PETA Asks Philippine Airlines to Deplane Monkeys

Update: Victory – Philippine Airlines recently issued a statement banning the shipping of primates to laboratories. 

Despite the incessant calls and letters from PETA supporters, Philippine Airlines (PAL) has still not given its assurance that it will stop the cruel shipment of monkeys to laboratories, a practice that only three of the world’s major airlines participate in. Earlier this month, PETA supporters took to the streets, staging a protest at PAL’s headquarters in Manila.

In two shipments made in July and August of 2012, Philippine Airlines shipped 190 pig-tailed macaque monkeys from Indonesia to the Los Angeles airport. These monkeys, forced into tiny, cramped crates, were then transported 1,500 miles in cargo trucks to a facility in Texas run by Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories. Afterward, the monkeys were trucked another 2,700 miles to the University of Washington–affiliated Washington National Primate Research Center in Seattle.

The slew of protesting “monkeys” was well received by Filipinos, many of whom slowed down their vehicles to read the signs and take a leaflet. More importantly, many employees of PAL stopped to ask questions about the campaign. There was no denying that most of them were shocked to find out about this issue for the first time.

In addition, on the same day in San Francisco, PETA U.S. made a similar plea in front of the PAL office there.

PETA has released an online petition in the hope of garnering everyone’s support for this cause. Please take the time to take a stand and sign the petition here. Every signature will help urge PAL to adopt a formal policy prohibiting the shipments of monkeys for experiments.

Posted by intern Katrina Pontanar