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.
The City Council’s Committee on Health held a hearing on Wednesday, Dec. 14 to hear from representatives from the community and lawmakers calling for the law to be passed.
“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. We heard so many stories from gardeners that shared that people were taking the guinea pigs and throwing them over the gates because they could no longer care for them.”