11/08/13 Air India
Embassy of India
The Honourable Lal Thla Muana
Ambassador of India
Kulmerska 23a
10000 Zagreb
November 8, 2013
Your Excellency,
I am writing from Animal Friends Croatia, the best-known animal rights organization in Croatia, to urge you to advise Air India authorities to reinstate the airline's recent ban on the transport of animals to laboratories for cruel experiments.
Consumers have a choice when they fly, and they are increasingly choosing companies with animal-friendly policies. Airlines that transport animals for experimentation stand to tarnish their image because they view the abuse of animals as a business opportunity.
Most leading international airlines understand that animals in laboratories suffer miserably as they are tormented in painful, often deadly experiments that are likely to fail to yield results that are useful to humans. These airlines have enacted full or partial restrictions on shipping animals to laboratories. Just among the companies named to the International Air Transportation Association's list of the world's 10 largest cargo carriers, FedEx, UPS, Cathay Pacific, Korean Airlines and EVA Air prohibit any shipments of animals for experiments; Emirates, Singapore Airlines and China Airlines won't ship primates to laboratories; and Lufthansa has banned shipments of cats, dogs and primates destined for laboratories. Recently Jet Airways, the second largest airline in India, committed to a ban on carrying live animals for laboratory experiments. We are also proud and happy to inform you that Croatia Airlines also confirmed that it does not and will not ship any animals to laboratories.
Many scientists – including the members of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, an international group of physicians and researchers – also support the ban on the transport and use of animals for experiments.
Air India's decision to disregard consumers' interests and associate itself with cruelty is likely to prove detrimental to the airline's image and profits as travelers around the world turn to airlines that refuse to carry animals to their deaths in laboratories. We urge you to speak with the chair of Air India and discuss reinstating the ban.
Thank you and best regards,
Luka Oman
President
Animal Friends Croatia
