Peter Gabriel famously jammed with bonobos in 2001, and his affection for his fellow primates runs deep — so deep, in fact, that he penned a letter on behalf of PETA UK to Air France (the airline, not the defunct Swedish Balearic pop project) asking them to stop shipping monkeys to be used for laboratory research, a practice he says every other major airline has discontinued. Gabriel joins Jane Goodall and James Cromwell in protesting Air France. His letter reads like so:

Dear Mr de Juniac:

I was troubled to learn that Air France is still shipping monkeys to laboratories, where they will be forced to live in pain and misery — experimented on and eventually killed – despite the fact that every other major airline in the world has stopped this cruel practice.

Before arriving at their final destination, these intelligent, sensitive primates are torn from their homes and families, locked inside small wooden crates in Air France cargo holds and forced to endure gruelling, frightening flights that often last more than 30 hours.

At the American and European laboratories served by Air France, primates are violently force-fed chemicals, inflicted with brain damage, crippled, addicted to cocaine or alcohol, deprived of food and water, or psychologically tormented and ultimately killed.

Aer Lingus, Air China, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Delta Air Lines, Lufthansa, Qantas, Virgin, United Airlines and all other major airlines have banned the transport of primates to labs.

I urge you to stop supporting the mistreatment of monkeys in painful and deadly experiments and to join other leading airlines in adopting and adhering to a formal policy that prohibits the transport of primates to laboratories.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Gabriel

Gabriel’s letter comes on the heels of Morrissey’s latest PETA-sponsored endeavor. Now for the inevitable callback:

[Photo by Michael N. Todaro/Getty Images.]