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Lost Racing Pigeons
After years of picking up the pieces I'm not a fan of the "sport" of racing pigeons. Essentially you are releasing domesticated animals into the wild and taking a gamble on whether they can survive long enough to make it home. To me it is no better than releasing your pet budgie or rabbit into the wild. I've rescued birds that weren't even weaned which had been released hundreds of miles from home. Pigeon "Fanciers" are keen to blame indigenous Birds of Prey for their "losses" which leads to many endangered birds being illegally shot each year. All to protect a hobby!
A scientific report commissioned by Scottish National Heritage and the Scottish Homing Union - i.e. people in favour of and involved in pigeon racing - found that on average 56% of birds released each season do not make it home. In 1996 a total of more than 34,000 birds were lost in Scotland alone! A further 8000 returned injured.
So you're first instinct when you find a Racing Pigeon
will probably be to try to contact it's "owner". Sometimes the details are on
it's ring or stamped on the underside of it's wing. Alternatively there is a
National Register you can call. But before you do this, ponder on these figures
above and think about the life you are returning the bird to. Spending most of
it's time crammed into a shed before being abandoned to face threats it is far
from equipped to deal with - cats, cars, birds of prey, even finding it's own
food are all new things to a captive bird. Does a person who would do this to a
bird deserve to have it back?
If you still decide to trace the owner, chances are you'll find they don't want it back. If I only had a pound for every time I'd been told to just ring a birds neck! In their eyes the bird has failed and is unlikely to earn them money in the future. They're faced with either driving to pick the bird up or paying £25 for it to be couriered to them through Amtrak. Then there's any vet bills to consider if the bird is injured. It simply is not financially viable and sadly there seem to few keepers out there who genuinely care for their birds however they perform. If you do make contact with the owner please be sure to check that the bird will not simply be killed.
My preferred option is to rehabilitate the birds so that they can join the wild flocks. This takes time - it is not simply a case of releasing them so please do not just let the bird go. But a pigeon which spends time in an aviary away from people and in the company of wild pigeons can regain it's wild instincts. If released in a safe place with a group of wild birds it has a good chance of living successfully in the wild. Not all wildlife rescues wish to get involved to this degree or have the facilities to do so, so you may need to ring round a bit.
If you still decide to trace the owner, chances are you'll find they don't want it back. If I only had a pound for every time I'd been told to just ring a birds neck! In their eyes the bird has failed and is unlikely to earn them money in the future. They're faced with either driving to pick the bird up or paying £25 for it to be couriered to them through Amtrak. Then there's any vet bills to consider if the bird is injured. It simply is not financially viable and sadly there seem to few keepers out there who genuinely care for their birds however they perform. If you do make contact with the owner please be sure to check that the bird will not simply be killed.
My preferred option is to rehabilitate the birds so that they can join the wild flocks. This takes time - it is not simply a case of releasing them so please do not just let the bird go. But a pigeon which spends time in an aviary away from people and in the company of wild pigeons can regain it's wild instincts. If released in a safe place with a group of wild birds it has a good chance of living successfully in the wild. Not all wildlife rescues wish to get involved to this degree or have the facilities to do so, so you may need to ring round a bit.