By Julia Zichello

Julia Zichello is an evolutionary biologist living on the Upper West Side.

What makes one animal a pet and another a wild animal and are the boundaries…fuzzy?

The current exhibit at New York Historical, called Pets and the City, explores this question, tracing the history of human relationships with other animals over the past three centuries.

The exhibit begins with the role of animals in the lives of indigenous people in the colonial Northeast. At that time, animals such as deer were considered kindred spirits, holding spiritual significance and fostering a connection between humans and nature.

Today, over 50% of the world’s human population lives in cities, and animals such as deer, wolves, and eagles are not welcome in our apartments. But what changed and why can’t we keep an eagle in the elevator or a squirrel on our shoulder these days? 

During the 19th Century, as interest in natural history soared, the wild kingdom was welcomed into the parlor, including exotic birds, tropical fish, reptiles, primates, and even rats. Meanwhile, out in the streets, pigs, dogs, and cows wandered around eating garbage. In 1820, it was estimated that 20,000 pigs roamed Manhattan. As The Beatles put it, “Everywhere there were lots of piggies, living piggy lives.” But in the wake of the 1848 cholera epidemic, in an effort to control the spread, the lives of many animals were terminated, including thousands of pigs and dogs. 

Out of this ugliness arose animal control measures that ultimately led to the establishment of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) in 1866. Together with supporters such as Louisa May Alcott and Ralph Waldo Emerson, the ASPCA set out to improve animal rights starting right here in New York City.

New York City was the first place to require licenses for dogs in 1894. Animal shelters were introduced in 1895. By 1965, new laws had expanded animal rights, including banning horses from highways and prohibiting painting animals with artificial colors. Around this time there was also growing recognition in the scientific community that many wild animal populations were declining due to human activities such as habitat disturbance and the pet trade. As a result, our modern city is a complicated confluence of habitat disturbance (clearing the old forest), animal control (no pigs in the street!), and animal companionship (but surely I can bring my canary to the cathedral?). 

Prohibited Pets & the City

The exhibit made me wonder about current pet laws in NYC, which led me down a rabbit hole to find a document on nyc.gov (amended in 2016), known as “Article 161, Animals.” The first section, 161.01, is called “Wild and Other Animals Prohibited,” and is definitely worth a gander (which is illegal to keep as a pet unless you have permission). 

The fantastic part of this document is not the descriptions of permits and regulations, it’s the long and winding list of animals which are prohibited. On it you will find lions, tigers, and bears (including polar, grizzly, brown, and black), but also hyaenas, panthers, wolverines, and Komodo dragons. Don’t even think about getting an emu or an ermine or a kinkajou or a condor, because they are listed as illegal too. You also cannot harbor a walrus, a dolphin, or a whale at your place. And all even-toed and odd-toed ungulates (hooved animals) are out of the question unless it’s a domesticated horse — so zebras and giraffes are not welcome. Overall, the document has quite an it’s all happening at the zoo feel to it. But zebras aren’t really reactionaries (as the Simon and Garfunkel song goes on), and Article 161 isn’t actually a joke.   

Instead, the serious purpose of the document is to protect wild animals that shouldn’t be kept as pets. There is substantial evidence that closer contact between humans and wild animals is leading to an increase in zoonotic (animal-to-human) diseases worldwide. Also, many animals on the list are critically endangered and removing them from their natural habitats only depletes their populations further. So, although some wild pets may seem harmless, and probably are, it is a slippery slope from a squirrel to a sea lion — therefore the list is long. 

The taxonomic extravagance of Article 161 prompted me to imagine urban legends for each of the species on the list, like, “Remember the guy with the walrus in apartment 3C?” “Was that a pangolin in the penthouse?” or “…the story goes there was a binturong in the basement.” It reads like raw material for a whole series of children’s books focusing on animal conservation and wildlife welfare. 

In any case, if you are looking for an escape, head over to New York Historical on West 76th and Central Park West to see Pets and the City, ponder your relationships with other animals, and consider a time not so long ago, before our streets were streets — when the world was wilder.  

Pets and the City will be on view through April 20th, 2025. 

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