New PETA Billboard Outside O’Hare Targets Deadly Primate Shipments

China Southern Airlines, Under Investigation by Feds, Is One of Only Two Major Carriers Still Shipping Monkeys to U.S. Laboratories

For Immediate Release:
December 19, 2013

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Holiday travelers will get an eyeful on their way to O’Hare International Airport this season, courtesy of PETA, which has erected a billboard outside the airport that depicts a monkey locked in a cage next to the words “China Southern: Stop Cruel Monkey Shipments. Primates Shipped to Their Deaths in Labs Via O’Hare.” The billboard is located on I-294, approximately two miles south of the airport.

China Southern Airlines is one of only two major airlines in the world—the other is Air France—that still ships monkeys and other primates to laboratories, where they’re locked alone in tiny cages, infected with deadly diseases, subjected to invasive surgeries, addicted to drugs,  and force-fed chemicals. Documents prove that the airline imports hundreds of primates—possibly more—from China to Chicago’s O’Hare airport each year.

Following a complaint filed by PETA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is currently investigating the airline for allegedly violating federal animal welfare laws by illegally importing monkeys without a valid license. Last year, China Southern was fined nearly $15,000 for the same violation and for leaving confined monkeys without food and water for days. Several of them died, and others resorted to cannibalism to stay alive.

“All U.S. airlines have ended this bloody trade, but monkeys are still being brought into this country to be imprisoned, poisoned, cut up, and killed in laboratories by China Southern Airlines, which is just as responsible for these animals’ suffering and deaths as the experimenters themselves,” says PETA Director of Laboratory Investigations Justin Goodman. “PETA’s billboard will make passengers stop and think twice before buying a ticket to fly with this cruel airline.”

In 2013, United Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Philippine Airlines, and Vietnam Airlines all stopped shipping primates to laboratories after discussions with PETA. Because of PETA’s successful campaigns, there has been a 40 percent drop in the number of monkeys imported to U.S. laboratories over the last five years.

For more information, please visit PETA.org/AirCruelty.