17 Airlines Bow to Animal-Rights Groups, Won’t Ship Exotic Birds

A growing number of airlines are refusing to carry exotic birds captured in the wild, and America’s pet-shop industry is squawking.

Animal-rights activists say African and South American birds sold in U.S. pet stores are snatched out of the jungle, stuffed into cages and transported in the cargo holds of airplanes. Many birds die in the process, they say.

A letter-writing campaign so far has persuaded 17 airlines, including American and Delta, to stop shipping wild birds. That threatens to ground a significant part of the pet industry, say bird importers and wholesalers, who argue that airline travel is safe for birds.

“This is getting carried away,” said Cecil Gunby, an employee of For Birds Only in Atlanta who has raised birds for 15 years. “Pretty soon they’ll stop carrying people because they’re getting too crowded.”

Dr. Teresa Telecky, associate director of the Humane Society in Washington, said about 14% of the 461,861 wild birds flown into the United States for the pet trade in 1989 died either in transit or soon after their arrival.

“There’s no good way to ship a bird if it’s a wild bird,” Telecky said. “They’re captured in the wild and are easily stressed animals.”