PETA Declares Victory As China Southern Airlines Stops Shipping Monkeys to Labs

Decision Follows Protests at Airports Around the World and More Than 100,000 Emails Urging Company to Stop Transports

For Immediate Release:
March 25, 2014

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

After an intense three-year campaign by PETA and its international affiliates, China Southern Airlines has announced that it has banned shipments of primates to laboratories.

In an e-mail to PETA, Chen Qiuhua, senior cargo manager for China Southern, stated that the airline will “stop transporting live primates for laboratory experiments on all flights of China Southern Airlines, effective from March 21, 2014.”

“PETA is thrilled that China Southern Airlines has finally recognized that cruelty shouldn’t fly and has stopped shipping terrified monkeys to pain and misery in laboratories,” said Justin Goodman, director of PETA’s Laboratory Investigations Department.

Prior to this announcement, China Southern was the only major airline other than Air France that still shipped primates to laboratories. Federal records show that in 2013, China Southern shipped more than 2,500 monkeys to laboratories in the U.S., where they were poisoned, crippled, and mutilated in cruel experiments.

PETA’s international campaign included regular protests at airports and company offices in Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Taiwan, and Tokyo. Through PETA’s website, more than 100,000 people sent e-mails to China Southern urging it to stop shipping primates. Last month, Baywatch star Pamela Anderson wrote the airline and urged it to end the cruel practice.

PETA recently purchased stock in the company in order to attend the next shareholder meeting and placed a billboard targeting China Southern near the airline’s cargo office at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.