People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals recently staged a protest outside the DC-area office of Ethiopian Airlines. The organization said that it was protesting because the carrier was named in court earlier this year for transporting monkeys sold by an alleged illegal international monkey-smuggling ring.
The recent protest was one of multiple PETA has held against the carrier recently and involved protesters wearing outfits of Santa Claus and Christmas elves.
PETA protests outside Ethiopian Airlines office
Several people dressed as Santa Claus and elves were recently seen outside the Ethiopian Airlines
office in the DC area. However, instead of carrying gifts or holiday cheer, they dumped coal on the premises.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
The individuals were protesters with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and were displaying their anger against the airline for being involved in transporting monkeys that were said to be a part of an international smuggling ring. ALX now, a news blog site, quotes PETA campaigner Mason Melito as saying,
“This holiday, PETA is gifting a colossal amount of coal to Ethiopian Airlines on behalf of all the monkeys it has trapped into tiny wooden crates and crammed into dark cargo holds for over 30 hours at a time. It’s time for Ethiopian Airlines to join nearly every other major airline in ceasing its monkey shipments.”
A video posted on ALX now also shows coal being dumped inside the airline’s office, although PETA denies doing that, adding that it may have been done by some other group. Employees of Ethiopian Airlines filed a police complaint against the protesters. Simple Flying has contacted Ethiopian for comments.
PETA’s official statement
PETA actually put out a press release on December 18 on its official website ahead of the protest saying that it would dump lumps of coal on the doorstep of Ethiopian’s Washington headquarters. It said that “Ethiopian Airlines is ho ho horrible to monkeys!” and that it was involved in the “transport of endangered long-tailed macaques to the U.S. for use in experiments.” PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo commented,
“Ethiopian Airlines hauls terrified monkeys halfway around the world where they are tormented, mutilated, and killed in pointless experiments, gambling with public health in the process. PETA calls on the airline to end these death flights or risk being forever known as the Grinch of the skies.”
Photo: KITTIKUN YOKSAP | Shutterstock
The organization further added in its official statement that macaques live in large, tight-knit groups in nature and that several violations took place while transporting them. It said that the US Department of Agriculture has cited the airline “for multiple violations of animal protection laws, including failing to provide proper feeding and watering instructions for 336 monkeys crammed inside wooden crates and flown nearly 10,000 miles.”
The statement goes on to add that a ground transporter at Atlanta Airport even left the monkeys on the tarmac for more than an hour and a half in 85-degree heat.
Not the first time
In the last several months, PETA has protested against Ethiopian Airlines at multiple locations worldwide, including in New York, Brussels, and even the Ethiopian Embassy in Tokyo.
In October, demonstrators representing PETA India protested outside the Ethiopian Airlines Mumbai office in India. The Hindu quoted Dr. Anjana Aggarwal, a Science Policy Advisor at PETA India, as saying,
“In 2023, the U.S. also accused them of violating animal law by transporting monkeys and keeping them in poor conditions. Today, science has progressed so much that we don’t have to depend on animals for experiment, non-animal methods like computer simulation models can give desirable results.
“As per National Institutes of Health (NIHUS) 95% of drugs experimented on animals are not effective on humans; so why do we need monkeys.”
In July, PETA Asia Senior Vice President Jason Baker, his 11-year-old son, and PETA UK Campaign Leader Reuben Skeats were arrested in Addis Ababa for planning a PETA protest against the airline. They were released after spending 24 hours in custody.
Related
Ethiopian Airlines’ Test-Monkey Shipments To US: Father & Child Detained For Planning PETA Protest
PETA has been campaigning against Ethiopian Airlines to stop transporting monkeys to the US.
