Monkey Delays Flight For Four Hours At JFK

A flight out of JFK Airport was delayed for more than four hours after a monkey escaped from its cage in the cargo area.

The Air China Flight, which was on its way to Beijing, was scheduled to leave the terminal at 4:50 yesterday evening. But passengers had to wait as port authority officials worked to capture a monkey in the cargo hold of the Boeing 747.

The New York Post reports that the monkey was one of about 50 that was aboard the plane. The monkeys were being shipped to China for medical research.

One of the officials working to capture the monkey said that it took close to four hours since the monkey was “a slippery little beast.”

PETA issued a statement after the incident saying that it was renewing its call to end the practice of shipping primates slated for experimentation. According to the animal rights groups, Air China is one of the only airlines that will ship animals to testing facilities. American, Delta, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and several other airlines refuse to ship animals for testing purposes.

PETA Vice President Kathy Guillermo said:

“For primates imported for experimentation, the suffering starts well before they are locked into laboratory cages… PETA is calling on Air China to join the dozens of airlines that have refused to participate in a bloody trade that tears primates away from their families and ships them in terrifying conditions to laboratories, where they are caged, poisoned, and killed.”