Air India stopped ferrying animals to labs: PETA

Air India has stopped transporting animals to laboratories, where they are cruelly confined, painfully experimented on and eventually killed, PETA India, the India wing of People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), said in a blog post on Friday.

PETA India said the airline has confirmed in an e-mail that it has sent a circular to all airports and stations in its network instructing them not to accept animals that are being transported for experimental purposes and that the situation will be closely monitored.

"Air India is now among the enlightened airlines that refuse to transport dogs, cats, primates and other animals to laboratories, where they would suffer and die", says PETA India Science Policy Adviser Dr Chaitanya Koduri. "Air India has set an example for the dwindling number of airlines that still profit from animal suffering to follow."

PETA said it is contacting all other Indian carriers and urging them to make the same commitment.

Every year, experimentation facilities across India squander valuable time and resources as well as millions of rupees by conducting wanton experiments on monkeys, dogs, rabbits, rats, mice and other animals, even though animal experiments cannot reliably predict the consequences for human health, PETA said.

''Air India joins a growing list of airlines - including British Airways, Aer Lingus, Cargolux, Qantas and Cathay Pacific - that refuse to ship animals of any species to laboratories. Just recently, following a vigorous campaign by PETA US, Air China banned the transport of primates destined for laboratories. Previously, the airline shipped monkeys from China,'' PETA said.