Racing pigeon that traveled 8,000 miles from Oregon to Australia set to be euthanized
By Rod McGuirk article
FILE - A racing pigeon sits on his cage before a pigeon racing tournament in Jakarta, Indonesia on June 20, 2020.
(Yogi Aroon Sidabariba/INA Photo Agency/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
CANBERRA, Australia - A racing pigeon has survived an extraordinary 13,000-kilometer (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.
Kevin Celli-Bird said Thursday he discovered the exhausted bird that arrived in his Melbourne backyard on Dec. 26 had disappeared from a race in the U.S. state of Oregon on Oct. 29.
The Globe and Mail Yan Zhuang Published January 15, 2021
A racing pigeon sits on a rooftop Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021, in Melbourne, Australia, The racing pigeon, first spotted in late Dec. 2020, appears to have made an extraordinary 13,000-kilometer (8,000-mile) Pacific Ocean crossing from the United States to Australia.
Kevin Celli-Bird/The Associated Press
The racing pigeon seemed to have travelled far, from Oregon, when it showed up weak and hungry in a backyard in a Melbourne suburb.
Someone decided to name it Joe, after U.S. president-elect Joe Biden.
But Australian officials, fearing the spread of germs from a foreign bird, would not bend the rules: The bird must die.
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Joe the racing pigeon was discovered in a Melbourne backyard after an incredible 13-thousand-kilometre journey from the United States to Australia. Despite his remarkable feat, and earning worldwide admiration, the Australian Department of Agriculture has warned the feathered adventurer s days may be numbered as he poses a threat to Australia biosecurity.
Featured: Brad Turner, Secretary of the Australian National Pigeon Association
Producer: Max Chalmers