Caged ‘Bird’ to Urge Amritsar Residents to Let Birds Fly Free

For Immediate Release:

10 August 2023

Contact:

Atharva Deshmukh; [email protected]

Hiraj Laljani; [email protected]

Amritsar – Ahead of Independence Day, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India and the Ashray Foundation will hold a peaceful demonstration to promote the message that it is cruel to deny birds the freedom to fly. During this action, a volunteer will pose as a caged bird outside VR Ambarsar Mall –To drive home the message, a PETA India supporter will hold a sign proclaiming, “Birds Don’t Belong in Cages. Let Them Fly Free.”

When:       Friday, 11 August, 12 noon sharp

Where:      Outside VR Ambarsar Mall, Plot No C, Circular Road, Nirankari Colony, Amritsar, Punjab 143001

“Birds are meant to feel the wind in their wings, not languish in cages,” says PETA India Campaigns Coordinator Atharva Deshmukh. “PETA India is calling on Amritsar residents to buy a pair of binoculars and watch beautiful birds in their natural habitats instead of imprisoning them.”

In nature, birds engage in social activities, such as taking sand baths, playing hide-and-seek, dancing, building nests with their mates, and nurturing their young. But when they’re caged, these same vibrant animals become depressed and withdrawn. They often over-preen themselves to the point of mutilation. Some people force birds to endure wing-clipping so that they can’t fly away, yet flying is as natural and important to birds as walking is to humans. Birds are captured from nature, packed into small boxes, and shipped to be sold into captivity, and many suffer and die in transit, usually from broken wings or legs, dehydration, starvation, or stress.

The government has banned the capture of and trade in species of indigenous birds in India, and The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, makes it illegal to keep an animal in a cage or receptacle that doesn’t offer reasonable opportunity for movement. For birds, “reasonable movement” means flight. Despite these laws, birds – including munias, mynas, parrots, owls, hawks, peacocks, and parakeets – are crammed into cages and sold at markets.

PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

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