Police in St Petersburg have launched an official investigation after a container filled with suffocated birds was left outside a central shopping mall with a note inviting passers-by to take them.
The suspicious package was discovered near the Nevsky Centre shopping complex in the heart of the city and carried to an internal security post. When security personnel opened the box, they found nine pigeons and two budgerigars packed inside tied cellophane bags.
A note attached to the container stated that the birds were a gift for children and instructed people to take them away. However, seven of the pigeons and both wavy parrots died from a lack of air, with only two pigeons surviving the ordeal. Animal welfare volunteers subsequently reported the case to the police, according to reports from the Russian news Telegram channel 112.
Nevsky Centre Commercial Complex
The Nevsky Centre is a prominent multi-storey shopping mall situated at the intersection of Nevsky Prospect and Vosstaniya Square in central St Petersburg. St Petersburg is Russia's second-largest city and cultural hub, with a population of over five million residents. The shopping complex sits directly opposite the Moskovsky railway station and attracts thousands of shoppers, commuters, and tourists every day.
Budgerigars, often referred to as wavy parrots, are small seed-eating birds native to Australia that are among the most popular domestic avian pets in Russia and Europe. Rock pigeons are ubiquitous across urban Russian cities. Enclosing live birds inside sealed plastic bags prevents ventilation and leads to rapid asphyxiation.
Austrian Animal Cruelty Case
The incident in Russia follows a separate case in Austria where a wounded cat was nearly sent as a postal parcel across the border into Germany. The animal was facing a journey of more than 24 hours inside a sealed package without any food or water.
Fortunately, the pet managed to leap out of the box inside a sorting centre right in front of postal employees. Austrian judicial authorities subsequently found the cat's owner guilty of animal cruelty and sentenced the owner to a six-month suspended prison sentence.
Austria enforces strict national animal protection laws that criminalise the abandonment, illegal transport, or reckless endangerment of domestic pets, carrying criminal penalties and potential jail terms for severe violations.
