PETA Praises Congolese Space Firm’s New Public Stance on Animal-Free Research

For Immediate Release:
July 25, 2022

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Vice President Shalin Gala regarding a new public tweet chain from KEKA Aerospace, a private space agency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which confirms that a rat named Kavira died “because of a failure” aboard the firm’s Troposphere 5 rocket but that the company “will never use animals in [its] research again,” including for its planned Troposphere 6 rocket launch later this year. The company’s new public policy follows an e-mail from Jean-Patrice Keka—the founder of the Congolese parent company Développement Tous Azimuts (DTA), who has been dubbed the “African Einstein” by the media—to PETA in 2021 announcing “a total ban on the use of animals in DTA’s space experiments” and that a guinea pig named Galaxionaut would be spared, for which PETA awarded Keka its Lifesaver Award.

KEKA Aerospace’s bold, public commitment to scrap all experiments on animals is a decisive win for humane space flight. It puts the Swiss-backed firm from the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the map as a compassionate innovator in this field. PETA is relieved and happy that no more terrified animals will be locked into capsules, shot high into the sky, and then die during crash landings for any future launches of the Congolese company’s Troposphere rockets. Animals aren’t astronauts, and PETA congratulates the company’s leader, Jean-Patrice Keka, for jumping light-years ahead into the human-only space race.

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