(ID) Fw: primfocus: Lufthansa's decision to ban commercial wildlife shipments

[Guest guest]

-

" Shirley McGreal " <spm

<primfocus

Friday, 11 May, 2001 01:55

primfocus: Lufthansa's decision to ban commercial wildlife

shipments

 

 

The topic of Willem Wijnstekers' use of his position as head of CITES as a

" bully pulpit " to persuade airlines to carry commercial wildlife shipments

has led to lively discussion on CITES-L, a list which discusses the

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The list

is crawling with animal dealers. These dealers amass such wealth that 13

Indonesian dealers turned up at the CITES conference in Kyoto some years

ago and they are so influential that they were part of the official

Indonesian government delegation. Although this story is not new, I posted

the following to CITES-L since it could often have been repeated for all we

know because deaths of animals in shipment are a dark dirty secret.

 

Lufthansa is not a perfect airline! Disaster can happen on any flight to

any animal as long as animals are considered as " cargo. " Several US

carriers have been prosecuted in recent years for cruel neglect of domestic

animals. Many people in the US drive across the continent for dog shows

rather than subject their animals to the perils of flying. Most of the

airline wildlife mortality is hushed up. The dealers involved don't want

the public to know, nor do most law enforcement agencies. The wild animals

don't have constituencies like domestic pets.

 

One of the worst mortality cases I heard of involves Lufthansa whose

decision to get out of the commercial wildlife trade upsets Mr.

Wijnstekers, an international civil servant whose use of the " bully pulpit "

afforded by his being head of CITES has caused controversy (he should not

worry overly as I believe Air France has sworn it will always carry

wildlife). The case to which I refer involved the gruesome deaths of 110

monkeys.

 

The story ONLY came out because a witness brought to Miami in 1992 to

testify in the " Bangkok Six " orangutan smuggling trial overheard wildlife

agents discussing the recent arrival of a shipment of 110 monkeys, all

dead, consigned to the defendant.

 

One wonders if this mortality incident is the " tip of the iceberg " or a

rare incident. One can only guess in the absence of a proper data

collection method in the US or internationally.

 

The shipment in question arrived at Miami Airport on 20 August 1992 on

Lufthansa flight 462. It had originated in Indonesia (from the Inquatex

firm) and was consigned to Matthew Block's then import business (Worldwide

Primates). The monkeys had been packed in 22 wooden crates. According to

their health certificates, all the monkeys were healthy when they left

Jakarta Airport.

 

The monkeys arrived at Frankfurt Airport around 7 a.m. on 20 August and,

after a seven-hour wait, the crates were loaded into the cargo hold of

Flight 462 which left for Miami at 2 p.m. At this point the monkeys were

all alive. On arrival at Miami, all monkeys were dead. Needless to say, all

282 human passengers arrived alive and well-fed after their comfortable

trips! As they were eating their dinners in the cabin, the monkeys down in

the hold were dying.

 

According to the " New Times, " none of the Division 4 law enforcement agents

or 6 port inspectors stationed in Miami saw the monkey shipment, and no

photos were taken. No public announcement was made. The Washington

Headquarters of the US Fish and Wildlife Service was not informed of the

tragedy by his Miami agents, according to the Miami newspaper " New Times. "

 

Then Law Enforcement Chief John Doggett, based in the Washington area, told

IPPL in a letter dated 2 October 1992 (written in response to our request

for an investigation of the incident) that, " At this time, this office is

not aware of any recent shipments entering the United States involving a

large percentage of wildlife mortality. " Doggett also stated that, " Data

compiled from the Form 3-177 does not track the numbers or percentage of

mortality of primates or any other wildlife imported into the United

States. "

 

Amazingly, the dead monkeys were entered as " Live Animals " in the USFWS

computer! So apparently are (or were, but I think, still " are " ) ALL dead

animals.

 

IPPL obtained a copy of the US import declaration from Lufthansa. The

shipment was declared as " 110 macaca fascicularis, live, value $34,750,

origin, Indonesia. " Somebody unknown had hand-written " All Dead. " The form

bore the notation, " Shipment is cleared, and carcasses and boxes can be

destroyed after necropsy. " Evidence in any potential negligence case was to

be destroyed.

 

According to an open letter dated 15 September signed by Richard Miller

DVM, a Miami-area veterinarian who himself deals in wildlife, I believe

mainly birds, " The lesions seen on gross autopsy included severe nasal

hemorrhage, edema of the lungs, splenic congestion...all animals

simultaneously went into irreversible shock which quickly led to death.

Some possible causes may have been heat stroke (over-heating en route) or

ventilation system failure. "

 

This suggests airline negligence. If anyone at Lufthansa was prosecuted or

fired as a result of this incident, IPPL did not learn about it.

 

The case of the squirrels whose corpses were shredded by KLM became public

knowledge. But who knows what happens to containers full of reptiles,

amphibians, or tropical fish in which there is less public interest?

 

Each airline has to make its own decision on what cargo it will carry.

Among the factors to consider: safety of animal handlers (macaque monkeys

can carry diseases such as herpes B which is fatal to humans), legal

liability, public concerns, (will the money earned from animal cargo exceed

the money lost by customers selecting airlines that don't carry wildlife

and compensation paid to dealers for dead animals?), etc.