How to Help 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 little 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.

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.

In addition 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 cruel hobby!

So your 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, proceed with caution. The bird has failed so it may be culled on its return. You will most likely be asked to let the bird go to find its way home. Please don't do this or you too are gambling on whether the bird can survive in the wild when the fact that it is with you suggests it cannot. You are also taking a gamble on what will happen to the bird if and when it does get home. One way to test whether the owner genuinely cares for the bird and won't cull it is to insist that it is either collected in person or that they pay for it to be returned to them using a specialist courier company. If they care for their bird and have its welfare at heart then this is not much to ask. If the bird is injured, check that they will be willing to pay for treatment too.  

If you decide not to return the bird to its owner you can either seek permanent sanctuary for the bird with an animal rescue or seek a wildlife rescue who will rehabilitate the bird so that it 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.

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