Caged Bird to Urge Hyderabad Residents to Let Birds Fly Free

Hyderabad: A People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India supporter will pose as a caged bird against a sky-blue background at Dharna Chowk to show passers-by that locking birds in cages and denying them the freedom to fly is cruel. To drive home the message, the PETA India supporter will hold a sign proclaiming, “Birds Don’t Belong in Cages. Let Them Fly Free.”

When: Tuesday, 30 May, 11 am sharp

Where: Dharna Chowk, Indira Park, Hyderabad, Telangana 500029

“Birds are meant to feel the wind on their wings, not languish in cages,” says PETA India Campaigns Coordinator Atharva Deshmukh. “PETA India is calling on Hyderabad 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 But when they’re caged, these same vibrant animals become depressed and withdrawn.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. Reasonable movement for birds is 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.

Contact:

Atharva Deshmukh 9820787382; [email protected]

Hiraj Laljani 9619167382; [email protected]