Can You Ship a Bird as Air Cargo to Canada?

Yes — but not through the simple route. Section 13(1) of the CFIA Import Reference Document lets an owner bring a pet parrot or songbird in from the United States with nothing more than a declaration at the border, but only if the owner “is accompanying the birds.” A bird shipped as air cargo is, by definition, unaccompanied. That one word closes the light route to it — not because cargo is banned, but because the easy option was never built for it.

The sentence that actually decides this

Almost nothing written about importing a bird into Canada quotes the opening clause of the rule it’s describing. Here it is in full, from section 13(1) of the Import Reference Document — the instrument the Health of Animals Regulations incorporate by reference, not to be confused with section 13 of the Regulations themselves, which is a different clause about false information on a certificate:

“A person may import into Canada from the United States pet birds of the parrot family or pet song birds if: the person importing the birds is the owner of the birds, is accompanying the birds, and makes a declaration to a Customs Officer at the place of entry into Canada.”

Three conditions, and a shipped bird can only ever meet one of them. It has an owner. It doesn’t have that owner standing next to it at the border, and there’s no customs officer to declare it to, because nobody travelling is making the declaration. So for a bird in a crate on a cargo flight, s.13 simply doesn’t apply — not to birds from the US, and not to birds from anywhere else, since the section only ever covered the US accompanied-owner case to begin with. If you want the full walkthrough of what s.13 does cover, see our complete CFIA import guide.

What’s left: the ministerial permit under paragraph 12(1)(a)

Every bird that doesn’t qualify for the s.13 accompanied-owner declaration — which now includes an unaccompanied US bird as well as every bird arriving from anywhere else — falls back to paragraph 12(1)(a) of the Health of Animals Regulations: a permit issued by the Minister on a case-by-case basis. We can tell you plainly what that means and what it doesn’t.

What it means: there is a real, published fee for having the application looked at. What it doesn’t mean: paying that fee tells you nothing about what the permit will require, or how long it will take to arrive.

The fee, and the coincidence worth knowing about

The CFIA Fees Notice, Part 11, item 1, sets the fee for consideration of an application — with respect to an animal or thing — for an import permit: $43.12 for single use, $73.90 for multiple use. That fee buys consideration of the application. It is not a guarantee of approval, and it does not fix the conditions the permit will eventually carry.

Here’s the coincidence: the CBSA border inspection fee for a pet bird is also $43.12 for the first animal in a shipment, plus $7.38 for each additional animal, under fee code 1050, plus GST/HST. Pet birds don’t get their own line on the CBSA schedule — they’re inspected under “Other: individual animals not elsewhere mentioned.” Two different agencies, two different charges, for two different things, that happen to share a number. Don’t assume paying one covers the other.

Both figures move. CBSA states on its own schedule that fees increase annually and are updated every 31 March, so treat both numbers as a snapshot rather than something to quote back to an agent. Check the Fees Notice and the CBSA schedule linked above before you budget around either one.

What we genuinely can’t tell you: how long a 12(1)(a) application takes to process, or what conditions yours will carry — quarantine, testing, isolation, or something else entirely. Those are set case by case on the individual permit and are not published as a blanket rule for any species. Our permit application guide walks through how to apply; nobody, us included, can tell you in advance what your permit will say.

The other half: does any carrier actually fly a bird as cargo?

Of Canada’s five largest passenger carriers, WestJet’s pets page lists “Birds (see entrance requirements)” among the species accepted in the cabin, alongside cats and dogs, one pet per guest. Air Canada’s published pet policy names only cats and small dogs. Porter states that “pet travel is restricted to house cats and small dogs” and doesn’t carry pets in the hold at all. Flair’s international tariff says it “does not accept any pet animals at this time,” and its domestic tariff covers only dogs and cats in the cabin — also with no hold option. Air Transat’s transborder tariff states that “only domestic cats and dogs are accepted for carriage.”

Read that carefully, because it doesn’t say what it looks like it says. WestJet’s cabin acceptance is a passenger policy — it requires the owner to be on the flight with the bird, which is the same constraint s.13 imposes at the border. It tells you nothing about WestJet Cargo, which is a separate business with its own terms that we have not reviewed. Unconfirmed: we could not verify this against an official source — specifically, whether WestJet Cargo (or any other Canadian air freight carrier) accepts live birds as unaccompanied cargo, and under what conditions — ask WestJet Cargo directly. Please confirm with the relevant agency listed at the bottom of this page before you rely on it for your own bird.. A cabin policy is not a cargo policy, and a passenger tariff is not a freight tariff — don’t read one into the other in either direction. See our maintained airline table for the passenger-side detail.

The honest summary: the one route that clearly works today puts the owner on the plane with the bird. That’s the same answer s.13 gives at the border. Both point the same way — travel with your bird if you possibly can.

The transit trap: routing through the United States

If a shipment is routed through the US on its way to Canada, a separate rule applies, and it’s easy to miss. 9 CFR 93.107(a), headed “Special provisions — In-bond shipments from Canada,” reads: “Birds from Canada transported in-bond through the United States for immediate export shall be inspected at the border port of entry and, when accompanied by an import permit obtained under Sec. 93.103 of this part and all conditions therein are observed, shall be allowed entry into the United States.”

Look at what that requires: entry is conditioned on an import permit under 93.103 — the very permit that 93.101(c) excepts for a personally-owned pet bird travelling with its owner. We are not going to resolve how those two provisions interact for a bird simply changing planes in the US, because the text doesn’t resolve it either. 93.107(a) is written about in-bond shipments — a customs-controlled movement of freight — and it isn’t obviously the same thing as a passenger’s bird sitting in a cabin during a layover. Unconfirmed: we could not verify this against an official source — specifically, whether 93.107(a)’s in-bond permit requirement applies to a personally-owned pet bird transiting the US en route to or from Canada, as opposed to a bird moving as commercial freight. Please confirm with USDA APHIS Veterinary Services at aphis.usda.gov/pet-travel before you rely on it for your own bird.. If any part of your route touches a US airport, ask APHIS before you book, rather than assuming either answer.

If the bird does fly: the container rules are Canadian law, not an airline preference

Sections 148.1 and 150(5) of the Health of Animals Regulations make the IATA Live Animals Regulations, 44th edition — “as amended from time to time” — the legal standard in Canada for a transport container’s design, construction and stocking density. That’s a federal regulation, not a courtesy the airline extends. It also replaces the general rules rather than adding to them: section 150(2) expressly takes containers used on aircraft out of the ordinary container rules in 150(1), and the overcrowding rule in section 148 excludes aircraft containers the same way. On a flight, the IATA standard is the whole rule.

One wrinkle worth flagging rather than guessing past: the Regulations name the 44th edition of the IATA Live Animals Regulations specifically, but IATA has since published newer editions, and the incorporation is ambulatory. Which text actually binds on your travel date isn’t something the Regulations settle on their own. Unconfirmed: we could not verify this against an official source — specifically, which edition of the IATA Live Animals Regulations governs container standards for a specific travel date. Please confirm with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency at 1-800-442-2342 before you rely on it for your own bird.. Ask before you buy a crate, not after.

One reporting rule, and it runs the wrong way for this article

Section 155 of the Regulations requires every air or sea carrier taking an animal from Canada to report — as soon as possible after arrival — every animal seriously injured, dead or killed in transit, to the veterinary inspector at the port of embarkation, stating the cause. It’s worth knowing, but notice the direction: it’s an outbound-from-Canada rule. For a shipment coming into Canada, the equivalent protection — if one exists — would sit with the exporting country’s own rules, and we haven’t reviewed those. Don’t assume s.155 covers an inbound bird, because on its own text it doesn’t.

None of the s.152 or s.154 recordkeeping duties (feeding, watering and rest times, floor area, cleaning) apply to a family shipping its own bird, either — those bind “every commercial carrier and any other person who transports animals in the course of business or for financial benefit.” A private owner isn’t one of those.

So where does this actually leave a relocating owner?

Probably not where you expected. The honest reading of all of this is that the simple route runs through accompanying your bird yourself — through the s.13 declaration at the US border, or on WestJet’s cabin policy if you’re flying. Shipping unaccompanied means a 12(1)(a) permit with conditions nobody can predict in advance, a carrier question that’s genuinely unresolved on the cargo side, and — if the route touches the US — a transit provision that doesn’t clearly say whether it applies to you at all.

If your bird has to travel separately from you and won’t be in Canada for a while yet, boarding can’t help — it can only house a bird that’s already here, and it can’t make a permit application succeed or move any faster. Where boarding genuinely fits is the gap while a 12(1)(a) permit is pending for a bird already on this side of the border, or while you sort out flights, permits and logistics for one that isn’t. If that’s your situation, our long-term boarding page covers what weeks or months of care actually looks like.

Frequently asked questions

Can I ship my bird as air cargo directly to Canada?

Not through the simple declaration route. Section 13(1) of the Import Reference Document requires the owner to be accompanying the bird, which by definition excludes cargo. An unaccompanied bird needs a paragraph 12(1)(a) permit instead, with conditions set case by case.

Does the 12(1)(a) permit have a published fee?

Yes. CFIA Fees Notice Part 11, item 1 sets $43.12 for a single-use application and $73.90 for multiple use, for consideration of the application only — not a guarantee of approval or a fixed set of conditions.

Is that the same as the CBSA border inspection fee?

No, even though the numbers happen to match at $43.12. CBSA charges its own border inspection fee (fee code 1050) under “Other: individual animals not elsewhere mentioned,” plus $7.38 per additional animal and applicable tax. It’s a separate charge from a different agency for a different service.

Will any Canadian airline carry my bird as cargo?

We haven’t confirmed this either way for any carrier’s cargo division, including WestJet Cargo. WestJet’s cabin policy accepting birds is a passenger policy and doesn’t tell you anything about its freight terms. Ask the carrier’s cargo division directly before assuming.

What if my shipment transits through the United States?

9 CFR 93.107(a) conditions in-bond entry to the US on an import permit under 93.103 — the same permit a personally-owned accompanied pet bird is normally excepted from. Whether that applies to a bird simply changing planes rather than moving as freight isn’t settled by the text. Confirm with USDA APHIS before booking a route through the US.

Do the IATA crate rules apply if my bird ships as cargo?

Yes — sections 148.1 and 150(5) of the Health of Animals Regulations make the IATA Live Animals Regulations the binding Canadian standard for container design and stocking density on any flight. Which edition applies on a given date isn’t resolvable from the Regulations alone, so confirm the applicable edition with CFIA.

Can Bird Sitting Toronto arrange the shipping or the permit for me?

No. We don’t file permits, complete applications, liaise with CFIA or CBSA, or act as a customs broker. This article is information only. What we do offer is boarding for a bird that’s already in Canada, and help rehoming a bird that genuinely can’t make the trip.

If your bird is already here and waiting out a permit or a flight booking, get a boarding quote and we’ll take care of the day-to-day while you sort out the paperwork.

Related guides in this series

• Importing a Pet Bird to Canada: The Complete CFIA Guide (2026)
• Moving Abroad and You Can’t Take Your Bird: Board, Rehome, or Wait
• Long-Term Bird Boarding While You Relocate: 30, 60 and 90+ Days
• Taking Your Bird from Canada to the United States: Driving vs Flying
• Bringing a Pet Bird to Canada From Outside the US: Why You Need a Permit
• Will Your Bird Be Quarantined Coming Into Canada? What the Rules Actually Say

Who to call before you travel

Confirm every requirement below with the agency itself. These are the people who
can actually authorise your bird’s movement — we cannot.

Every number below was checked against the agency’s own website on
27 July 2026. Government phone numbers and web pages still change without notice.
If one does not connect, find the agency through its own official site rather than trusting
what is printed here.

• Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) — import and export of live
  birds, health certificates, permits: 1-800-442-2342 from
  Canada and the US, or 1-613-773-2342 local and
  international, 8 am to 7 pm EST Monday to Friday except holidays. CFIA names
  services related to travelling with pets as something its area offices handle —
  for the GTA that is the Mississauga animal health office,
  289-247-4100, 8 am to 4 pm
  · inspection.canada.ca
• Environment and Climate Change Canada — CITES permitting — export and
  import permits for CITES-listed species, and what documents exist for repeat crossings:
  1-855-869-8670
  · cites@ec.gc.ca
• Canada Border Services Agency — what happens at the border itself,
  declarations and inspection fees: 1-800-461-9999, Monday to
  Friday 8 am to 4 pm local time. Press 0 to reach an agent; CBSA’s published
  service standard is to answer within 20 minutes
• USDA APHIS — the US pet-travel hub, with separate paths for import,
  export and interstate movement, and the list of which birds count as pets at all:
  aphis.usda.gov/pet-travel
• US Fish & Wildlife Service — CITES and Wild Bird Conservation Act
  permits, applied for through the ePermits portal at
  fws.gov/permits. The agency
  contact centre is 1-800-344-9453
  · info@fws.gov

What we can and cannot help with

We cannot help with paperwork. Bird Sitting Toronto is a bird
boarding and care business. We are not a customs broker, an immigration consultant, a
veterinary practice or a legal adviser. We do not file permits, complete applications or
deal with any agency on your behalf, and we cannot guarantee any outcome at any border.
Everything on this page is information only.

There are two things we can do. If your bird cannot travel with you
— because the paperwork is still in progress, the airline will not carry it, or the
timing simply does not work — we can board
your bird in the GTA for as long as you need, including by the month. And if it
becomes clear the bird genuinely cannot come with you, we can help you
rehome it to a good home rather
than leaving you to sort that out alone.

We publish this guide because our boarding clients ask us about it constantly, and
because the answer is genuinely hard to assemble from the primary sources.