Big News for Birds: Proposed Law Would Prohibit the Sale of Birds in NYC Pet Stores

World Animal Protection is teaming up with Voters for Animal Rights and the Avian Welfare Coalition to make NYC a kinder place for birds.  

Shut Down the Bird Mill to Pet Store Pipeline   

Birds in pet stores come from huge breeding facilities called mills—factory farms for parrots and songbirds. Inside mills, hundreds or thousands of birds are trapped in small cages. They can’t fly, socialize, or even raise their babies. Undercover investigations and government inspections have found horrific suffering at mills, including broiling barns so hot that birds died, dead rats decomposing in cages, and cages encrusted with waste and moldy food.  

Keep Birds With Their Families   

Most birds sold in pet stores are parrots—deeply social animals who live in huge flocks in the wild. Many buy parrots, unaware they will be miserable alone in a cage. Deprived of their families and freedom, many birds develop psychological problems. Birds engage in self-mutilation, such as feather plucking, screaming, and aggression.  

Help Swamped Shelters and Rescues  

When birds aren’t the low-maintenance purchase as pet stores claim, many people surrender them to sanctuaries, rescues, and shelters. Still others release their birds into the wild, condemning most of them to death by starvation, exposure, or predation. Rescues and sanctuaries don’t have the space to continue taking on all the birds pumped out by the pet industry every year.  

Let’s Do This!  

It’s all hands on deck to pass Intro 1325 into law.  

• If you live in NYC, send your councilmember a message telling them to support Intro 1325.  

• If you don’t live in NYC, sign our petition to ban the sale of birds in pet stores.  

Thank you to Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala, also the champion of NYC’s guinea pig sales ban, for fighting for animals suffering in pet stores! If you’re on X, send a post expressing your gratitude.