ANIMALS AS AIR TRAVELLERS.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20428, 24 December 1931, Page 2

ANIMALS AS AIR TRAVELLERS.

A VARIED COMPANY. The carriage of dogs, poultry, and other livestock by air is so much on the increase that a department has just been established by Imperial Airways to deal with the growing form of aerial traffic. The' existence of a spocial department ensures not only that animals make their journeys in a minimum of time, but also that they receive individual care, being fed and attended to, as required^.while in tfansit between London and any destination on the Continent. - When valuable animals are sent from Britain, to appear in shows on the Continent, it is essential not only that transit time should be cut down to a minimum, but. also that vibration and jarring should, so far as possible, be avoided. In this respect the airway is unrivalled. Not only is an air journey smooth and free from those transhipments from train to , boat, and bach again to train, which are otherwise unavoidable, but the animals travel in a lined compartment, well protected from draughts or damp. • Among recent consignments of livestock by Imperial Airways have been dogs, "cats, mice, day-old chicks, pigeons j cage birds, fish in tanks, bees, turkeys, insects, small bears, lion cubs, rare zoo specimens, and monkeys. Consignment of day-old chicks are. of tot? placed in an early-morning aeroplane at Croydon, reaching in not more than a day's flying destinations far-distant across the Continent. Recently, as many as 2000 chicks, in a single consignment, were flown from Britain to Roumania, When a big, goods-carrying machine alighted at the London airport, not long ago, it was discovered that its freight compartment had been transformed, _ temporarily, into a flying menagerie, containing ' parrots, monkeys, and a bear, together with a number of tropical fish in tanks. On another occasion the occupants of a cargo aeroplane were a number of live alligators, travelling in special crates, roltal not + ng - a f°„ t ! le officials were called upon to install in a freight ma. chine a den in which a fully-grown lion, accompanied by its trainer® was abroad. 6 6 mighfc air " bo ™ fron