A pigeon declared a biosecurity risk after flying to Melbourne from the United States may get a reprieve after an American bird organisation declared its identifying leg band was fake.
Officials hd labelled Joe a biosecurity risk and suggested he might have to be humanely destroyed.
Melbourne:
A racing pigeon detained by Australian authorities and set to be destroyed over concerns it was an American intruder received a lifeline Friday, when experts revealed its leg tag was probably fake.
Originally thought to have flown from Alabama to a backyard in Melbourne an epic journey of 14,500 kilometres (9,000 miles) Joe the racing pigeon made headlines around the world.
Australian media had reported that Melbourne man Kevin Chelli-Bird discovered the pigeon who he named after president-elect Joe Biden with an ankle band linked to a US racing bird.
Pigeon that faces death sentence in Australia may get a reprieve for its fake US leg band
AP/Canberra Filed on January 15, 2021
US bird organisation declared the identifying leg band found on a pigeon in Australia is fake
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 December 26 was a racing pigeon that had left the US state of Oregon, 3,000km away, two months earlier.
On that basis, Australian authorities on Thursday said they considered the bird a disease risk and planned to kill it.
Racing pigeon went missing during an event in Oregon on October 29 last year
Named Joe, it appeared in a garden in Melbourne, Australia, on December 24
Australian border officials now plan to kill the bird over fears it could have Covid
But animal welfare group claim Joe is not the racing pigeon from Oregon
Department of Agriculture said bird likely to be Australian after investigation