A new bill brought forth to City Council may ban the sale of guinea pigs in New York City.
The bill, entitled Intro. 4, was originally introduced to City Council this past February. If passed, the bill would prohibit the sale of guinea pigs as pets while also clarifying the definition of the term “pet shop” to address inconsistent use of the term in the current code.
“When I initially heard about this crisis, I honestly didn’t understand the scale. I thought this seems like a practical bill, we should do it, but I didn’t really understand the magnitude of the situation,” said Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala, who is one of the main sponsors of the bill. “While it never would have occurred to me to get a guinea pig as a comfort animal during the pandemic, a lot of people did.
“In October, a box with 22 guinea pigs of all ages, five of which were pregnant, was abandoned in the lobby of an apartment [building] in Staten Island. Guinea pigs have also been released by owners in places like city parks, which is not only illegal but also detrimental to animal survival,” said Hon. Lynn C. Schulman, Chair of the Committe on Health.
With this increase of guinea pigs in the shelter, it is further straining the resources and staff at ACC needed to care for and place the pigs, Weinstock said. She also noted that the major of the guinea pigs that were surrendered in starting in May 2021 were between 6 and 9 months old, indicating that they were obtained as babies in the summer of 2020.
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