Captive wild-type birds including finches, canaries, and softbills have welfare needs that standard cagebird housing often fails to meet, and wild capture continues in some supply chains.
Captive bird welfare encompasses both the ongoing welfare of birds in homes and aviaries and the supply chain welfare of wild-captured birds entering trade. Domesticated canaries and well-bred captive finches can live acceptable lives in appropriate housing, but the housing standards in most retail and domestic settings fall significantly below welfare requirements. Birds need to fly — minimum cage size standards that prevent flight represent a fundamental welfare failure. The illegal trade in wild-caught birds adds a dimension of capture stress, high mortality rates, and disease introduction that is both a welfare and conservation problem. Consumer demand for unusual or colourful wild-type birds drives this trade.