The 2023 Copenhagen Air Route Exposé
A cross-border investigation revealed that thousands of beagles were shipped as cargo on SAS passenger flights from the United States through Copenhagen Airport to laboratories across seven European countries — with passengers unaware.
The Investigation
In early August 2023, Camp Beagle (UK) and Anima (Denmark) released a coordinated package of evidence: FOI-derived records from British and Danish authorities paired with undercover airport footage from Copenhagen obtained by Anima showing beagles handled as cargo.
Camp Beagle describes the work as an “international exposé” driven by FOI requests to Fødevarestyrelsen (the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration), with “hidden recordings” from Copenhagen Airport showing SAS among the companies transporting the dogs.
A major contemporaneous journalistic account came from Swedish outlet Syre, written by journalist Stina Lagerkvist, attributing discovery to a mix of anonymous airport images, activist follow-on investigation, and a “list of final destinations” obtained by investigators.
The Route
Scale: Reconciling the Numbers
SAS Airlines: Passengers Unaware
Both Scandinavian and French reporting explicitly assert that the dogs were flown on passenger aircraft “without passengers suspecting” what was in the hold. The Swedish reporting describes common batch sizes of 12, 24, or 36 dogs per shipment for major pharmaceutical customers.
PETA's August 8, 2023 letter to SAS CEO Anko van der Werff stated PETA had “obtained records” documenting transportation of more than 5,300 dogs and added: “It appears that SAS was responsible for most or all of these shipments.” PETA framed SAS as an outlier among major carriers, listing multiple airlines that refuse shipments of animals destined for laboratories.
Destination Countries
Great Divide ApS — Copenhagen Handling
The Swedish reporting names Great Divide ApS as the entity responsible for handling the dogs on the ground in Copenhagen — providing food, water, and rest before onward routing. The article frames Great Divide's ownership and links as a subject of suspicion under further investigation by the campaign coalition.
SAS Response
SAS's public response was fragmented rather than a single global statement:
Post-Exposé: Route Disruption
Key Unknowns
- Underlying FOI datasets: Not publicly posted in a centralized, reviewable form. Routing fields, consignee/consignor IDs, and carrier documentation remain unpublished.
- Flight numbers and exact routings: Camp Beagle says it had flight numbers but these are not published in accessible summaries.
- U.S. departure airports: “Five hours by road” and “eight-hour flight” are stated, but departure airports and ground logistics providers are unidentified.
- Laboratory-level endpoints: Some recipients named (e.g., Charles River in Swedish reporting) but no master list published.
- Alternative routes post-2023: Whether Marshall shifted to other carriers, hub airports, or increased European breeding reliance is not demonstrated in public sources.
- Formal SAS policy vs. operational pause: SAS says it stopped but campaigners note the absence of a formal published prohibition.