ANIMAL ADVOCATES PRAISE AIR CANADA FOR REFUSING TO SHIP PRIMATES FOR RESEARCH

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) January 19, 2012 --

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ANIMAL ADVOCATES PRAISE AIR CANADA FOR REFUSING TO SHIP PRIMATES FOR RESEARCH

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Vancouver, BC – Today, more than 40 animal advocacy organizations across Canada praised Air Canada for its recent decision to stop shipping non-human primates into the country for use in research laboratories. The coalition – the Canadian Coalition Against Animal Research and Experimentation (CCAARE) which includes Calgary Animal Rights Effort, Stop Animal Testing at Dalhousie University, and Stop UBC Animal Research among many others – also urged the Canadian Transportation Agency to approve Air Canada's new policy. Airlines in Canada must obtain approval from the CTA to revise their shipping guidelines. Unfortunately, the CTA is requiring Air Canada to continue shipping primates to laboratories while it considers the issue.

"We applaud Air Canada for wanting to get out of the monkey business," said Brian Vincent, Coordinator of the CCAARE and Director of Stop UBC Animal Research. "We urge the Canadian Transportation Agency to immediately approve Air Canada's new, compassionate policy."

Last year, Air Canada came under international criticism after news that four dozen monkeys from breeding farms in China had been shipped to Quebec in cramped wooden crates. Now the airlines, one of only two major North American carriers that still flies primates to laboratories, wants out of the gruesome primate trade. Air Canada recently stated: "it was a decision taken both to align our policies with those of many other major international carriers and in response to widespread public concern."

Other groups from across the globe are also calling on the CTA to approve Air Canada's "no primate" policy. The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), which has led the campaign to end the international transportation by airlines of primates destined for research and which broke the story about Air Canada last year, and Change.org have launched an online petition (http://chn.ge/xgh0zN). And the world's largest animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has mobilized its members to contact the Canadian agency.

More information can be found online at http://stopubcanimalresearch.org/

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