“Joe”, a pigeon that reached Australia from the US, perches on the roof of a house in Melbourne on Jan 15. Reuters
A pigeon that Australia declared a biosecurity risk may get a reprieve after a US bird organisation declared its identifying leg band was fake.
The band suggested the bird found in a Melbourne backyard on Dec 26 was a racing pigeon that had left the US state of Oregon, 13,000 kilometres away, two months earlier.
On that basis, Australian authorities on Thursday said they considered the bird a disease risk and planned to kill it.
But Deone Roberts, sport development manager for the Oklahoma-based American Racing Pigeon Union, said on Friday the band was fake.
A racing pigeon has survived an extraordinary 8,000-mile Pacific Ocean crossing from the United States to find a new home in Australia. Now authorities consider the bird a quarantine risk and plan to kill it.