By Journalist Macy Baca (SE).
Animal rights activist Senator Pelfrey (OSU) brought the “Avian Wing Clipping Protection” Act of 2023 to the Credit Union House/makeshift Senate this afternoon. This bill will place an absolute ban on wing clipping, which will extend to every type of bird, regardless of endangerment status or agricultural purpose. Not only zoos, but private owners and chicken farmers will face fines, should they choose to continue the practice. Far from a joke bill, Pelfrey has brought a piece of legislation that aims to protect all birds in the state of Oklahoma, whether they be eagles, chickens, or parakeets. This legislation passed the honorable Senate, but only after some debate.
While many were in favor of this legislation, some took issue with penalizing the owners of agricultural birds, like chickens or quail. Senator Koehn (NWOSU) called debate on this legislation, claiming infringement of his constitutional rights as a bird owner “It’s probably in the Constitution somewhere. If I wrote the Constitution, it would be in there,” says Koehn. “It’s my right to not have big government regulate my agriculture.”
All joking aside, it seemed as though senators on both sides of the argument had the animals’ best interest at heart. “Birds are pretty stupid,” says Koehn. “Chickens get themselves hurt quite a bit, and if you don’t cut their feathers, they can fly out and get attacked by an animal.” For bird owners like Koehn, who may have a mixed flock of chickens and quail, it may not always be practical or safe to build an enclosure with a top on it, “because when quail get spooked, they jump, and they can break their necks. It’s a danger to agriculture to pass this legislation, and I urge members of the House to vote no.”
On the other side of the argument is Rules Chair Gardner (OBU), who, like both Pelfrey and Koehn, is an experienced bird owner. According to Gardner, wing clipping is not the only way to protect your flock. “I’ve never clipped the wings of my animals and they lived just fine and never died as a result of something like that,” says Gardner. She suggests making the living environment for these birds as safe as possible, rather than clipping their wings and permanently altering their bodies.
The House should be seeing this legislation soon.