http://wnewsj.com/news/home_top-news/151184632/Animal-activists:-Revoke-ATI-license-due-to-neglect

Animal activists: Revoke ATI license due to neglect

By Nathan Kraatz, Wnewsj.com, Tuesday, January 13, 2015 

WILMINGTON — An animal rights group, citing government reports of alleged animal neglect, petitioned the United States Department of Agriculture Friday to remove a Wilmington company’s license to move animals.

“It is clear that Air Transport International has a long-term pattern of non-compliance with federal law that endangers the life and well-being of the primates it transports,” wrote Stacey Ellison, a research associate with Stop Animal Exploitation NOW.

“Therefore, in light of the seriousness of Air Transport International’s continued failure to comply with the Animal Welfare Act and the danger it poses to the animals it transports, I hereby insist that you begin the process of revoking Air Transport International’s USDA license to transport animals.”

ATSG spokesperson Paul Cunningham declined to comment.

The complaint, submitted Friday, cites USDA inspections of primate shipments from China to Houston, Texas in 2014. Both reports allege ATI transported primates without giving them food or water for more than 24 hours in December and more than 32 hours in July.

The December report also alleged that a primate had several small lacerations on its face after removing a metal strip that covered sharp edges of metal mesh. Dried blood was found on the mesh, according to the report.

The July report also alleged that cage’s food and water receptacles weren’t secured, allowing two primates to stick their arms out of the cages, risking injury to the animal, and alleged that ATI wasn’t registered with the USDA to transport the animals. It further alleged that the bottoms of the cages loosened, allowing fluid, perhaps bodily waste, to leak, risking contamination of humans or other primates.

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which carried out both inspections, issued an “official warning of violation of federal regulations” to ATI in July after the first report. That warning only made note of the enclosures used, not the other findings.

The Animal Welfare Act of 1966 regulates the research, transportation, exhibition or dealing of animals. Violations of the law can result in official warnings, loss of license, civil penalties or criminal penalties and can include prison sentences or fines.

Though Ellison didn’t ask the USDA to impose a fine or sentence, she did close the letter saying she looked forward to hearing about “the fate of this facility.”

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