Air Canada ends lab monkey transport

   Air Canada said it will stop transporting monkeys destined to laboratories. 
   The airline filed an amended tariff with the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) that would enable it to discontinue the transportation of primates bound for research. CTA announced this week that it was suspending Air Canada’s amended tariff pending a hearing on this proposed new policy. 
   According to the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), last year Air Canada handled a shipment of 48 monkeys from a breeding farm in China to a laboratory in Montreal. The announcement resulted in widespread publicity and caused an outcry across Canada. A subsequent campaign by the BUAV resulted in groups and individuals from around the world contacting Air Canada requesting that it stop transporting primates for the research industry.
   Other airlines that have stopped transporting primates for research in recent years include British Airways, United Airlines, Northwest Airlines, South African Airways, Delta Airlines, Eva Air, China Airlines, American Airlines and Caribbean Airlines. There is now only a small number of passenger airlines that continues to carry these shipments, such as Air France, Vietnam Airlines, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and Air China.