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Passengers on Air Canada were reportedly "very distressed" by the sound of dozens whimpering and yelping laboratory dogs in the bellyhold of an Airbus 330 aircraft taking them to Paris.
The passengers said they could hear the dogs, which they saw being loaded on pallets with cages of two dogs each, according to The National Post of Toronto.
The newspaper reported that regular shipments of 70-100 beagles made their way to Paris medical experimentation by Air Canada flights. "All we could hear during the boarding and before the take-off was barking, crying and whimpering," said one passenger.
"We were shocked to hear some flight attendants say this goes on regularly - dogs get shipped to Paris for experiments," said another passenger, who also asked not to be identified.
Animal rights activists claim that Quebec's "vague animal protection law and weak enforcement" provide a constant supply of dogs for labs around the world, the report said.
"Fifty per cent of all dogs used for medical research in Canada are used in Quebec," said Liz White, a director of the Animal Alliance of Canada, a national animal rights group.
Air Canada president Claude Morin said the company has had internal debates about the regular shipments, but cannot legally turn such consignments away. "The animals are treated perfectly (en route). We don't really ask too many questions about where they're going. Clients don't have to tell us anything."
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