Photo Op: Ethiopian Airlines to Face Turbulence at Tokyo Tourism Expo Over Cruel Monkey Transport
What: Attendees of Tourism Expo Japan 2024 are in for an earful on Thursday when PETA supporters dressed in hazmat suits will haul in cargo plastered with images of real monkeys while blaring actual recordings of the animals’ screams. The action is part of PETA’s campaign to urge Ethiopian Airlines to stop transporting endangered long-tailed macaques from Mauritius and Southeast Asia for use in experiments overseas.
The airline, which appears to have ties to an alleged illegal international monkey-smuggling ring, has flown thousands of monkeys to the U.S. despite previously telling PETA the practice violated company policy.
Importing monkeys poses a grave and potentially fatal public health risk. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has acknowledged that in the last three years, imported monkeys have carried deadly diseases and pathogens, including tuberculosis and a dangerous bacterium that is classified as a bioterrorism agent.
“Ethiopian Airlines is flying monkeys to their death and playing Russian roulette with human health in the process,” says PETA Senior Vice President Jason Baker. “PETA calls on the airline to get out of this bloody business and urges travelers to book their flights elsewhere.”
Where: Tokyo BIG SIGHT, 3-11-1, Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo (See the Google Maps like here.)
When: Thursday, September 26, 12 noon sharp.
Interviews will be available on site and remotely. Photos of the event will be available here after 3 p.m. on Thursday.
Credit: PETA
Why: Ethiopian Airlines has transported multiple shipments containing hundreds of monkeys who were allegedly illegally taken from their forest homes, and falsely sold as captive-bred, according to testimony and evidence presented in the recent U.S. federal trial of accused Cambodian monkey smuggler Masphal Kry. Last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cited the airline for multiple violations of animal protection laws, including failing to provide proper feeding and watering instructions for 336 monkeys who were crammed inside wooden crates and flown nearly 10,000 miles from Mauritius to Atlanta, in the U.S. state of Georgia. The monkeys were left on the tarmac of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport for at least 95 minutes in 29-degree heat. The airline also imported 584 monkeys into the U.S. without mandatory health certificates, according to federal citations.
PETA Asia—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAAsia.com or follow the group on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, X, Facebook, or Threads.
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