Pigeon flies from Japan to Canada
Source: AFP |
June 26, 2013, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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A PLUCKY pigeon that flew across the Pacific Ocean from Japan will be bred by a bird lover in Canada hoping its progeny will make top long-distance racers, an animal rescue official said.
The pigeon was discovered tired and thin at a Canadian air force base on Vancouver Island and taken to an animal rescue center near Comox, British Columbia, where it was treated for a common bird parasite and nursed back to health.
"We believe it took off from land in Japan and got confused or got caught up in a storm and got lost before eventually hopscotching its way to Canada, stopping and sleeping on freighters along the way," the Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society's Reg Westcott said on Monday.
The one-year-old bird was among roughly 8,000 race pigeons released on May 9 in Haboro, Hokkaido, in northern Japan for a 1,000-kilometer race, according to owner Hiroyasu Takasu, 73, of Ishioka, Ibaraki.
The pedigree bird was among 10 racers owned by the retired businessman, an avid hobbyist.
"I have never heard of pigeons going to Canada. It's incredible," Takasu said in Tokyo.
A pigeon's top range is typically 650 kilometers. This one traveled around 7,000 kilometers.
Canadians contacted Takasu, whose telephone number was on a tag attached to the bird's leg.
He decided not to have the pigeon flown back aboard a commercial jetliner, fearing that the travel back home might kill it unless it receives food, water and appropriate care.
The local Pigeon Racing Society in western Canada offered to take in the wayward bird and set it up with some female birds.
"I'm sure his offspring would be very good long range racers," Westcott said.
The pigeon was discovered tired and thin at a Canadian air force base on Vancouver Island and taken to an animal rescue center near Comox, British Columbia, where it was treated for a common bird parasite and nursed back to health.
"We believe it took off from land in Japan and got confused or got caught up in a storm and got lost before eventually hopscotching its way to Canada, stopping and sleeping on freighters along the way," the Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society's Reg Westcott said on Monday.
The one-year-old bird was among roughly 8,000 race pigeons released on May 9 in Haboro, Hokkaido, in northern Japan for a 1,000-kilometer race, according to owner Hiroyasu Takasu, 73, of Ishioka, Ibaraki.
The pedigree bird was among 10 racers owned by the retired businessman, an avid hobbyist.
"I have never heard of pigeons going to Canada. It's incredible," Takasu said in Tokyo.
A pigeon's top range is typically 650 kilometers. This one traveled around 7,000 kilometers.
Canadians contacted Takasu, whose telephone number was on a tag attached to the bird's leg.
He decided not to have the pigeon flown back aboard a commercial jetliner, fearing that the travel back home might kill it unless it receives food, water and appropriate care.
The local Pigeon Racing Society in western Canada offered to take in the wayward bird and set it up with some female birds.
"I'm sure his offspring would be very good long range racers," Westcott said.
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