Three members of Parliament have written to federal cabinet ministers urging tighter enforcement and new legislation after Canada’s transportation regulator fined a cargo airline for illegally shipping thousands of long-tailed macaques into the country on behalf of Charles River Laboratories, a major supplier of animals used in biomedical research.
In a letter dated October 24, MPs Alexandre Boulerice, Laurel Collins and Matthew Green asked the ministers of transport, environment and climate change, and public safety to block any further imports of the endangered primates, including a flight the letter said was scheduled to land on November 7. The letter also called for stronger enforcement of existing wildlife trade laws, tougher penalties for violations, and new safeguards to confirm that imported macaques were not illegally taken from the wild.
Regulator’s Fine and the Import Numbers
The letter followed a report from PETA primate scientist Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel and a penalty issued by the Canadian Transportation Agency against SkyTaxi, a Poland-based cargo airline, over three shipments totaling 1,980 monkeys carried on behalf of Charles River Laboratories. The fine totaled $7,500, which works out to less than $4 per animal shipped, according to the figures cited in the complaint.
The controversy comes after the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service denied entry in early 2023 to 1,269 monkeys that Charles River Laboratories had attempted to import into the United States from Cambodia. Following that denial, the company shifted more of its sourcing to Canada, importing more than 6,700 long-tailed macaques from Cambodia in shipments valued at more than CA$120 million, according to the letter.
Calls for New Legislation
In their letter, the MPs said they were prepared to work with parliamentary colleagues on new legislative measures that could prohibit the importation of all primates used in experimentation, with the stated goals of protecting endangered species and preventing Canada from becoming a hub for unethical or illegal wildlife trade.
Jones-Engel of PETA, whose investigation prompted the parliamentary letter, called the MPs’ involvement “a heartening first step” and said the organization is pressing the federal government to bar both Charles River Laboratories and SkyTaxi from bringing further shipments of macaques into Canada.
Key Figures in the Monkey Import Case
The letter did not address whether the flight scheduled for November 7 would proceed, and it remains unclear how the responsible ministries plan to respond to the MPs’ requests for enforcement action and legislative review.
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