PETA Entity Reps and Child Jailed in Ethiopia Over Monkey Shipments
July 18, 2024; 5 p.m. ET: Three monkey defenders—PETA Asia Senior Vice President Jason Baker, his 11-year-old son, and PETA U.K. Campaign Leader Reuben Skeats—were just released from a jail in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, after being arrested at 6:30 p.m. local time last night. They spent more than 24 hours in jail, with only mattresses on the floor to sleep on.
The three were detained after simply checking out a possible site for a peaceful demonstration against Ethiopian Airlines. PETA Asia has exposed the company for cramming endangered monkeys into tiny crates and shipping them halfway around the globe to be mutilated, tormented, and ultimately killed in U.S. laboratories.
Here’s what Jason had to say:
We’ve been held here overnight simply for speaking up for monkeys who are suffering because Ethiopian Airlines ships them to laboratories in the U.S. The real crime is what’s being done to these monkeys. Being detained in a cell isn’t fun, but it’s nothing compared to what the monkeys just a few miles down the road at the airport are subjected to—which will only get worse when they’re imprisoned in U.S. laboratories. I would do this again to help them.
The Arrests Stifled Protest, But You Can Help
The group was planning to hold a peaceful protest outside Ethiopian Airlines headquarters today, before police detained the three last night. They intended to wear prison uniforms and monkey masks to demand that the company, which appears to have ties to an alleged illegal international monkey-smuggling ring, stop shipping monkeys destined for labs.
While the group works to get home now that they’re out of jail, please take action for monkeys smuggled and condemned to death by Ethiopian Airlines.
